With seven people in the house, it is surprising how often birthdays come around (except mine, which stubbornly holds to a once-a-year frequency). Because of this, we don’t celebrate a ‘big’ (expensive) party every year for every child. We’ve tried to alternate between a ‘family-only’ party one year, and a larger event including friends, the next.

This year it was particularly important to make a big deal of David’s birthday, because Kathy was away last year for his tenth birthday, attending her father on his death-bed. David has not let us forget this, over the intervening year. “I just really like it when both my parents can be home for my birthday,” he explained, earnestly. “I didn’t really get a party last year,” he told us, somehow not complaining, yet tugging at our heart-strings all the same.

The birthday boy, himself.

Just to be difficult, Kathy and I decided to introduce a little doubt about this year’s party. That’s how we roll, as parents.

“I don’t know, David. You know Mom and I have been trying to stay on a budget. These parties can get expensive,” we told him. “I suppose maybe you could have one or two friends over for a small party,” we grudgingly admitted.

David is very concerned about our budget, and will often ask us not to spend money on him. Kathy had decided to throw him a surprise ice skating party, and a little misdirection goes a long way to maintaining a surprise of this nature.

Kathy already wrote about the actual birthday itself, but that was a family affair. We scheduled his ‘friend party’ for today, the following Saturday. On the day of the party, David and I rose early to attend a men’s prayer breakfast at church, which had the happy effect of getting us out of the house for the morning, while Kathy and the girls prepared. After the breakfast, David and I went to pick up his friend Eli, and then on to Alex’s house. David knew he was having some kind of party with these two boys, but I chose to be closemouthed about any details.

Rachel brought a few friends along, to round out the party.

“What do we do after we pick up Alex?” David asked me.

“I’ll have to check and see if I have any instructions,” I told him in my most boring voice of a Dad-who-is-not-really-paying-attention. Eventually I took them to a donut shop, so they could each pick out a personal donut. But I still had time to kill. So I stopped off at church, and took the long way to the ice rink — all along, David had no clue what we were doing.

When we got to the rink, David somehow missed the ‘Ice Arena’ sign. “Are we going rock climbing? he asked. “They have tennis here, too,” one of his friends suggested, playing along.

Watching for the Zamboni

Inside the doors of the recreational center, David saw Angie L., leaning casually against the wall. “How odd,” he thought. “What a coincidence that she would be there!”

David is blessed with a fine group of friends.

Then they all yelled ‘Surprise!’ and the whole crowd gathered ’round with presents and congratulations. Even then, David couldn’t see the ice. “Are all these people going rock climbing with us?” he wondered. It wasn’t until they opened the doors and he was issued his skates, that he realized we were all ice skating, something he’d been wanting for months.

Sarah helped me around the rink a couple of times.

It was a very successful party. Nancy and Debbie and Niki and Jacque helped with the refreshments, and no one was badly hurt. I managed to escape with only minor knee injuries. Even more surprising, 25 people kept the party a secret, in spite of several accidental references, which happily went over David’s head.

On the way home, I couldn’t help asking how this party compared with previous ones, including the legendary ‘Best Party Ever’ that Joshua arranged for David in 2009. As always, David found a diplomatic way to answer the question.

“It was a great party, Dad. It was at least as good as that party, maybe even better,” he sighed in satisfaction.

Tim

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