Every year, since we met, I've always asked Ben what he wanted to do for his birthday and just about every year he waits until the last minute to decide. The only one he put any real effort into was when we went skydiving in Oregon for his 29th birthday. When we went to Idaho to visit his friend Josh and his wife Sam back in 2019 was a close second. We have birthdays in the wrong months. It's hard to plan something because we don't know what the weather is going to be like.
About a month ago, I asked Ben what he wanted to do for his birthday this year and he said he hasn't put any real thought into it. I told him that his birthday was going to come quicker than he thinks it will. He knew that and still didn't give me an answer. Two weeks before, Josh, his other friend named Josh, messaged me on Facebook messenger to ask if I had anything planned for his birthday yet and I said I had no plans as he was speaking to me. He asked if he could be in charge of it and I said sure. He said he would provide the theme and the food as long as I host it and get the decorations. I told him that I can make that happen.
I asked him what the theme was going to be. He said princess. Ben is going to murder us. I am somewhat off the hook because it wasn't my idea.
I asked Josh some of the details such as what time this was going down on the Sunday, what kind of food we were going to have and who was all coming as far as we knew at that point. He told me 3:30, Costco sandwiches and cake and I was supposed to let him know how many people were coming so he could order enough food for everyone. I told him I would let him know when I got the decorations.
I ended up picking up all of the decorations a few days later when I went grocery shopping. I sent a photo of it all to Josh so he could see it. He commented back, that's precious. I hid them away so Ben wouldn't see them and ruin the surprise. I called his mom and told her what we were doing, and she seemed pretty excited about it.
I kept asking Ben what he wanted for his birthday and kept telling me that he didn't know. So, I ended up getting him a few weird things that he could put some use to. Two black long sleeved thermal shirts, a pair of Dragon Ball Z sandals and a picture frame that says I love my cat with a photo of Oliver in it. Wade helped me wrap his gifts.
The day of, we got up, I made breakfast sandwiches and we spent a couple hours putting stuff away and vacuuming the house. Dad came over to trade out some of our beat-up folding chairs for better ones. Since he had the truck, he took our Christmas tree away I had forgotten to throw in the back of the truck a few weeks ago when I trimmed our out-of-control Rhododendrons. Meanwhile, Ben worked on getting his motorcycle's sissy bar and seat changed out so I could ride on the back of it. Then Doug decided he wanted to brush his dog at the most inconvenient time and needed my help. So, I went out to the back yard with Doug and helped him and it took longer than I thought it would. Charlie is so undisciplined.
I grabbed what I needed, Ben put a helmet on me, and we rode around the neighborhood for about 20 minutes just to get the feel of having two people on the bike.
We got back and I started getting the rest of the living room ready. I had Ben bring in chairs before I had him sit in the computer room while I decorated. Trish, Ed and Amy arrived just as I started to decorate. Trish helped me decorate. She even brought her own tiaras for people to wear at the party if they wanted to.
We told Ben to come out of the room and he was not impressed. He flipped us off and called us all dicks. I told him it was all Josh's idea, and I could prove it if he wanted to see the Facebook message. Kenyata arrived shortly after and laughed at all the decorations. Kenyata is one of Ben's JBLM co-workers and this was his first time to our house. Ben showed him around for a few minutes. Josh messaged me to let me know that the food and cake were all picked up and he was on his way to our house from Tumwater.
Josh arrived with the food, and everyone helped him bring the stuff into the house while I got the kitchen ready. I bought princess paper plates and napkins to match. Again, Ben was not thrilled. Josh showed him his cake. It was a rainbow unicorn. More middle fingers and dick phrases were directed at us all.
We ate food, chatted, made fun of Ben a little bit, told jokes and just enjoyed our day. We got the cake out and decided not to blow out candles, but we did all sing Happy Birthday to him. Trish cut the cake and we all got a piece of the rainbow unicorn cake. It was good but soooo much frosting. Ben opened his gifts. He got a DNA ancestry kit from his mom and a couple things mentioned already from me. We cleaned up and Ben wanted to play a game, so I told him to go pick one out. He chose Joking Hazard and Doug ended up kicking our butts.
We cleaned up and thanked everyone for coming over. We put the tables and chairs away, did the dishes and I went over to Erika and Zach's house to deliver some of the food and cake to them. We will not have a chance to eat it all, so we decided to share. I was over there for about an hour visiting. I came home, ate some popcorn, watched some movies while Ben played his game and I worked on my blog. I was pretty much caught up and it felt good. I've been behind for about four years.
Happy 36th Birthday Ben!
Next Adventure: President's Day: Geocaching, An Adventure Lab and Some Thrift Shopping
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