Happy 40th My Mukor

Granted, it isn't really My Mukor's 40th birthday, but celebrating it today (about two weeks early) was the only way I could think to really surprise him. Five of his closest friends showed up early this morning (8:30 AM is early for him), and they took him to Six Flags Magic Mountain.

Mama DB helped me set the surprise stage so well. I told My Mukor to block today out for her birthday, since Mama's birthday is in early December. However, that wouldn't be enough to get him showered and out of bed bright and early. Nothing would ruin this perfect surprise birthday more than to have My Mukor come out of his bedroom in his bathrobe surrounded by his friends. Okay... THAT would have been fun, but not for him.

So, we devised this plan that Mama DB's family would arrive early this morning, and the reason My Mukor had to be up and showered was so he could take the children to the zoo early to see the gorilla feedings...?! What?! This was Mama's idea, and I would NEVER have thought of that.

Have you ever played two lies and a truth? It is a game where you say two things which are lies and one truth, and your friends have to figure out which one is true. Well, the key to that game is to make certain that both the lies and the truth are slightly unbelievable; therefore, making them all mostly believable! That's what this "gorilla feeding" excuse was - just slightly unbelievable to be believable!

There was only one little hitch in the perfect plan. Last night, My Mukor looked online at our AMEX charges (as he does from time to time to help thwart fraudulant charges) and noticed a large charge for Six Flags Magic Mountain. Sigh... darn. My Mukor was looking right at me with puzzlement in his eyes, and I'm a horrible liar. Oh sure, I had a ton of great excuses I could have used in a moment's notice, but without any practice to make my lie believable, I had to tell him the truth.

"Those charges are for your 40th birthday party."

My Mukor was so EXCITED! He couldn't wait for his birthday to arrive, so he could go on wisdom-defying rides. I guess telling him a 1/2 truth kept him from being suspicious about the next day.

[Cue MISSION IMPOSSIBLE music]

This morning, I woke up waaaay too early in my excitement. I double-checked the weather to make certain it wasn't going to rain (probability of rain 0%). I verified that I had all of the Magic Mountain tickets printed and ready to go. I even printed out directions on how to get there. Now, all I had to do was wait.

The plan was for the men to arrive at 8:30 in order to leave at 9 AM. The park opens at 10 AM, so I thought this would leave them plenty of time... just in case one or more friends are late - as some are prone to do. My kids wake up at 8 AM, and Mama's family shows up soon thereafter.

I forgot to mention to the men that they could come INSIDE our house, so they were waiting out in our driveway waiting for the signal that it was okay to come inside. At 8:40 AM, I called them inside, and I had them wait in the kitchen. By this time, My Mukor was mostly dressed and getting ready to come out of his bedroom.

My Mukor came strolling down the hallway, wandered into the living room, and was about to use his laptop, when we all came busting in from the kitchen singing "Happy Birthday". I could tell at first he didn't get what was going on. After all, it wasn't his birthday. But after a moment of seeing everyone singing to him and his wife holding a video camera, he got it. And he grinned from ear to ear before shooting an accusing look at me and his friends.

Then came the fun part of regaling him with stories of how we tried to pull this off. This of course was followed by him denying that he knew anything about this other than the AMEX charge slip up the night before.

After leaving around 9 AM, the men returned at 8 PM with smiles on their faces, souveigners and exhausted bodies. They had stopped to eat dinner on their way back, and they had a BLAST!

MISSION 40th SURPRISE BIRTHDAY = COMPLETE