My "Baby" Brother Turns 50

My "baby" brother turned 50 recently and several of us conspired to surprise him. The last surprise birthday party we had was for his wife last August. At the time, my sisters and I reminded him that his would be the next one coming. He just smiled in his enigmatic way and let the comments go.

I mentioned it again to him earlier this year, and he told me he would not be here for his birthday. I saw that as a challenge and thus the gauntlet was thrown down. It did indeed transpire that he was not in Minnesota for his birthday, he went to Illinois where we grew up. I have several nephews and two nieces and one of my nephews was born on my brother's birthday, interestingly enough twenty five years later.

That however did not stop my sisters and I, our mom and dad, his wife, kids and extended family members from conspiring to surprise him. I had thought I would not be able to attend, and through the generosity of my sister-in-law and nephew I had the wheels and money to get there. My nephew planned to fly in from California (where he is stationed), and I drove to Illinois with his wife, so they could have a much needed reunion. Another sister-in-law sent along libations and a wheel chair that has been used in previous birthday celebrations. My brother's best friend of 39 years was going to drive up from Texas. The stage was being set.

Originally, my sister that hosted the surprise party was going to devote her energies to my nephew's celebration as it too was a milestone. I am happy to say, she amended her plans and planned a party on the actual birthday anniversary for both her son and my brother. This helped to throw my brother off the track. I should explain that my brother is the hardest person to surprise. His ability to ferret out the truth of a matter from a grain of a sentence or a snippet of information is amazing, so we had our work cut out for us.

There were many phone calls and emails back and forth. One from myself to my sister that my brother answered, threw me for a loop, but I covered by wishing him a happy birthday. When the day of the surprise party finally dawned, my brother was distracted and we all gathered in the hopes that we had actually pulled the wool over the eyes of our own Sherlock Holmes. I am happy to say, we DID pull it off and when we all poured out of the front door of my sister's house, there were several people attending that my brother had no idea would be there.

He was wheeled up the driveway in the wheelchair that I had ferried down to Illinois, to cheers and a confetti cannon. My sister had an original idea to serve my brother's favorite foods, which consisted of pizza, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, bridge mix, chocolate covered peanuts, peanut M & M's, date nut bread and frozen cranberry salad. I think I can say a wonderful time was had by all.

The names have been omitted to protect both the innocent and the guilty, though repercussions were threatened if anyone spoke of it. I will take my chances, and I can't wait for the next surprise party when my brother and his best friend celebrate their 50th anniversary of friendship in 2021. I hope I am around to see it. I love you John.