Birthday Fun

What fun this past week has been! On Thanksgiving day we were with the Clark side of the family, and Heather's aunt Sandy coordinated a surprise party for me while we were all together enjoying the holiday. It felt like we were having a big feast and party for my birthday. The only down part of the day was a sore throat that made it very painful to swallow. Little did I know that before the weekend was over, that little sore throat would develop into bronchitus and almost ruin another surprise party. We decided to spend the night in Monroe and early on Friday morning, Heather and I met up with my sister Carolyn in Monroe and braved the early bird sales at Kohls, Target and Elder Beerman. It is a little crazy to see a full parking lot at 6:00 AM, but we did get some Christmas shopping done so we felt accomplished by the time we returned to the Clark's house. So accomplished, we all took naps...long naps! We went back home on Friday night and my cold suddenly took full force. I didn't fall asleep until almost 5:00 AM, and I was still waking up periodically with an uncontrollable cough.

Heather was great on Saturday, letting me sleep most of the day. I called the on-call doctor, who told me I probably had caught something viral and I should get some rest and take some cough medicine. Still no complaining from Heather that I stayed in bed most of the day. I knew that evening we would have to meet up with her family for dinner so I was trying to rest up and see if I would feel any better. All day long I never felt better. I just felt worse. I took a million cough drops but there was no relief. I finally told Heather I would have to stay home and to tell her parents how sorry I was I couldn't make it. She told me that I would have to go and just sit and talk and that I couldn't just miss the November birthdays dinner. Right before it was time to leave, Heather was getting the boys ready to go and I was in the bathroom coughing, on my knees, with tears in my eyes. I looked up and said, "Heather..." and she cut me off and just said "We'll be in the car waiting." No sympathy, no love, nothing. I managed to drag myself out to the car and we drove up to the Novi Mongolian Barbecue. When we got there, I parked the car and we walked in to a surprise party for me that Heather had coordinated for the last couple months. Heather's family, my family and friends were all there to celebrate my 30th. It was quite the surprise and I had no idea. I wish I had felt better, but for the time we were there I was able to enjoy the time with family and friends. Lots of thanks to Heather for putting it all together and keeping it a surprise (which is not easy for her to do!) Here are some pictures from the party: