HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICH

As all of you are aware, it's always hard to plan a surprise party for the person you live with. And when you're living in a motor home or 5th wheell, you know there's not too many places to hide anything. Rich would be turning 60, so it was time for a surprise party. I managed to pull one off 10 years earlier, but this one would prove to be even better. Al and Judy Goldberg offerred their home as soon as they heard what I was planning. Friends Marcel and Louise wanted to be the entertainment for the day. And so the planning went.

I knew that the party could not be scheduled for the 17th, which is his actual birthday. If I tried to get him away from the RV on that day, it would be a dead giveaway. So I scheduled it for the Sunday prior - the 15th. I would provide the hot dogs, rolls, condiments, paper plates and plastic ware, so Judy and I went shopping a few days before and she kept everything at her place.

About a week before the party, Al and Judy invited us over for a cookout on Sunday the 15th for what was supposed to be a cookout for just the four of us, and she made it even more believable when she asked if I would bring my bean salad.

Rich had no idea when that afternoon we got in the car and headed for Al and Judy's . As we approached their neighborhood the cars were parked up and down both sides of the street; he looked at me and said " I thought this was just the four of us?" Oh well.........."Happy Birthday, Rich".

When we got to the house, everyone was out front and greeted him singing Happy Birthday. He was definately surprised. And even more surprised when he saw Stan and Sally and Barb and Dennis from Peace River!!!

Here is from left to right" Charles Kuehn, Gordon and Michelle, Al and Beverly and Gail and Rich

in the patio area behind the house.

This is Gloria (Spanky) Lowell and Joanne Bath, and Kathy Keller

Jeff Blackburn, Nancy Fair and Linda Kramer share the swing and a cold drink.

Marcel and Louise planned two magic acts. I was in the first one, so didn't get any pictures. I popped out of what was shown to the audience as an empty box, after Rich was told to think about the very best thing in his life. Well of course!!! I was then sent into oblivian by Marcel and magically reappeared among the audience. I'll never tell the magic secret. But the next act was even better.

Marcel is having way too much fun tying Louise up in Ropes. Rich was there to observe, certify for the audience that the ropes were real and the knots were tight.

After Louise was all tied up - Marcel have Rich is suit jacket to put on. Yes, the sleeves were a little short on Rich, but he managed to get it on. Marcel then had Louise stand directly behind Rich and pulled the curtain around them, so only their heads could be seen. Voila!!!
Abra Ca Dabra!! Marcel removes the curtain and..........

Rich looks atMarcel in disbelief asking "How did you do that?" As you can see Louise is now wearing the suit jacket, and the jacket is UNDER the ropes!!!

After the magic show, Al started cooking the hot dogs and we brought all the food out!. There's Kathy Hughes helping to arrange everything. This was a fabulous "pot luck" affair, with everything from Kathy's award wining Chili, to Enchilladas, to every salad immaginable!

After eating, Rich opened his presents. Wish I had a better picture, but this was Linda giving him a most usefull gift. Rich is always talking about keeping your eye on the ball. Here, Rich is wearing a new pair of glasses from Linda and Bill (that's Bill, sitting) and on each lens was pasted a pickleball!!

Rich got tons of cards, several bottles of wine, pickle bandaids, personalized business cards, hand made cards, to name just a few things, and from Al and Judy his own towel, personalized with his name and the Tanglewood Logo, and a hook for hanging.

Bob and Kathy Hughes wanted to get the cake. And it was Outstanding - complete with pickleball player ! What a perfect ending to a perfect day.