Surprise Party

It could not have gone off better if it had been planned - which it was not.

Tonight ended up being my surprise birthday party. It came as a surprise to everybody.

College Dude called to chit-chat about everyday stuff, which was a pleasant surprise in itself. He had no idea at the time that he was adding to the evening's festivities.

Just as we were finishing our conversation, Motivated Mom arrived home.

Since it was obvious I had seen it, Motivated Mom and Media Girl presented me with the eye-catching brown cardboard box that had been delivered to the front door during the day and was now sitting in the middle of the living room.

I had moved the box indoors when I had arrived home, pointedly ignoring any markings on the box even though the corrugated container was exactly the right size to contain the one thing I had asked for.

While Motivated Mom and I sang a couple of very off key verses of The Beatles' song titled Birthday, we removed the handsome new end table from the box. We moved the table to its home in my writing area and loaded it up with books.

Then we all went about our respective routines for the evening.

That's really all it takes to have a great birthday once you've lived to see half a century and then some.