Okay, I literally cannot sleep.
Karatechick says, "with friends like these." But she has no idea, no one deserves friends this great. Most of these people I'd never met before June, and some just a couple of weeks ago, and they put more effort, planning, and money into a celebration for me then I would ever put into something for myself. There is an old saying that if you want to know the value of a man look to the number of his friends. Well I may not have a lot, but the ones I have are by far and away the best I could ever ask for.
Truth by told my birthday isn't for another week. My mom and I share a birthday and as I result I think that I might have grown up with a different outlook upon this particular event.
It's always seemed rather arbitrary to me... the day that I came into the world, but then again it could safely be argued that that day actually happened 9 months before my birthday, but who really wants to celebrate that day? In any event, I've rarely celebrated my birthday with friends, and birthdays with my family to me are (to me) more about my mom then myself.
Having said that I cannot believe that the realization that a birthday party is more for the friends then the birthday boy or girl has slipped past me for so many years.
This evening was originally supposed to be about me saying bye to Jim for the year while I'm away in school then anything to do with me specifically.
Both of my Grandpa's died before I was born, so somehow Jim has managed to work his way into my conciousness as an adopted Grandfather someone to be respected, but who you can also have a lot of fun with
I had a picture printed up of myself and the bike in Jasper
which I wanted to give to him, and thanks for being my friend for so long. He's always managed to make me smile.
For the last 2 weeks my friends
have apparently been planning a surprise birthday for me at The Garage (restuarant that Jim owns and has been saving spots for our bikes for three years)
The night before I sent out a general e-mail inviting everyone to come for a nice little hurrah, but was quickly told that no one but Malice would be able to make it. Which was okay, because heck, I just wanted to say bye to Jim.
Malice's little sister came along which I thought was kind of odd, but that turned out to be just an excuse to bring a backpack
Though I'm really glad that she came as well. I've known her for so long she might as well be my sister.
You can just imagine my surprise as we pulled down the street with me in the lead and I saw a bike in the parking lot... then another and another. Apparently my head snapped around so hard to stare at them that it looked like I had broken my neck.
Those little white signs are "reserved" signs that were set up just for us
I pull into the parking lot, and there's EVERYONE sitting on the patio with happy birthday stuff all over, I couldn't believe it. No one's ever done something like this for me, I'm a very private person so I've always existed on the fringe of any group I'm involved in so I end up avoiding things like this, but... these guys are so great... I just cannot find the right words here.
I turned bright red, and refused to take off my helmet until the swelling went down. I honestly couldn't believe that everyone was there.
Anyways, the food was great, the conversation was a lot of fun. And tonight was probably one of the best nights of the summer.
Unfortunately they also decided to spend a bunch of money and got me some loot.
I provide now a list of what I got for two reasons:
1) It was really neat to get everything, and I'm really happy that I got it
2) To me the best part of getting a gift is giving it, and knowing that you did a really good job of choosing it. Which is to say you know the person you're giving the gift to well enough to make it a really good one.
First everyone chipped in and got me a large picture frame with a matte, then signed all around the matte. One of the pictures from
Tonight will be put into it at a later date, after we've had a chance to go through a pick the best one.
Therap (who does not wish to be called that anymore) and will simply be called Char in my blog until she comes up with something better got me some tea and a really cool travel thermos with a built in tea bomb. I'm actually having trouble sitting here typing, I really want to test it, but I probably have to much to keep me awake as it is, so caffienated tea isn't a good idea. I'll be taking a cup with me to work though. Thank you so much.
Bubbagump got me a HONDA brand T-shirt to go with my bike which I proudly wore for the rest of the night.
Karatechick got me some more tea (I'm going to be drinking soooo much of that stuff this year, hickory sticks (for school) and a t-shirt that I've been *this* close to buying for the whole summer.
I'll wear it proudly.
I have to say, bang on with everything. Amazing gifts, which I'm going to enjoy for a long time. Thanks again for all the neat stuff, it's all going to Fairview with me.
Ohh plus assorted barbie and motorcycle paraphenalia to go on the cake.
I've said it several times, but I'll say it again once more. I don't deserve friends like this, but I'm sooo glad I have them. Thank you to everyone that showed up, thank you to everyone that planned this, and thank you for making this such an amazing summer.
PS. I had NO FREAKING CLUE all of this was going on behind my back.
....here's a couple of pics....I'm sure Sev will attempt to explain his side of the story sometime.
Sev!!