My Mom's birthday

Last November, my dad told me that they had lunch with some friends that day.  One of them told a story about how her children all flew into town and surprised her at lunch for he birthday the year before, and he told me that my mom's eyes lit up.  "I think that is something that she would really, really appreciate," he said.

So I started emailing my brothers. I told them that I would tell mom that I was coming to visit her for Mother's Day that year, since she often has come to visit me instead.  Knowing about my trip would keep her in town, and she would know to prepare for guests.  Whoever could fly in was welcome to join us. I was nervous that some of them wouldn't be able to come, but in the end, they all booked flights.

I was worried that I would make her suspect something, but we pulled it off!

She thought we were just going to her favorite restaurant (which truly is amazing) to have dinner with the two brothers that live in town.  And she was floored when she saw that three of my brothers had flown in and were sitting there, like nothing was different.

And then shenanigans ensued.  I was supposed to help mom decorate cookies for church that Sunday, so my brothers pitched in to help.  They looked . . . different than she anticipated, but she had a lovely story behind them as we handed them out, at least.

The next morning someone noticed a tree that had dead branches, and before I knew it, everyone was outside and doing yard work.

And that quickly evolved to kicking balls over the house.  Mom was worried, but I told her that, unlike when they were kids, they all were now adults with salaries that could pay for any windows that they broke.

 I was amazed by how much fun it was to have just the siblings together for a while.  For that day, we weren't spouses and parents of our own anymore, but back to the original family in some way.  It was really neat.

Part of the email chain was arranging to have a black forest cake for the family BBQ, since that is her favorite.  Those who lived in that area knew that Fragapane bakery is the best place to go, so they talked about who would go and order a Fragapane cake.  My older brother replied that he had no idea what a "Fragapane" cake is, but  . . . go for it.

This was the part that brought me back to childhood.  That's what my brothers DO if nothing is going on.  Break out the cornhole game, or start playing some form of hot potato with a volleyball someone found.  Always movement and competition.  And goofiness.  For no reason, the main goal of the hot potato game was to knock over Kevin's gatorade when he least suspected it.

And when cornhole evolved to cornhole over the house, Dan ended up on the roof to pick up any that didn't quite make it.

It really was a wonderful trip!  As a bonus, I got a week with no kids to just relax in my old hometown and visit with my parents.  I even took a trip overnight to go and see two friends from high school. I had such a great week!