I wrote half of this post last year, on Kate's 50th birthday. It was an epic birthday, we had a big partay and I NEVER FINISHED IT.
In it, though, I was going to make her birthday about me by bragging about a couple of things I did to surprise her, so I'm finishing it now!
Happy birthday again, Katr!
As she mentioned in her groundbreaking guest post two weeks ago, Katr turns 50 today!!!
(again, this was last year, she's 51 this year, which is still cool)
One of the hardest things in the world to do is surprise Katr. There are a few reasons for this:
1. While Katr enjoys little surprises, she is not into BIG surprises. Like, for example, if you told her to expect a quiet evening at home and then threw her a surprise party, she would still love you and appreciate the effort you went to but please don't do that ever again.
2. We work together - from home - in the same room. So it is challenging to have clandestine phone conversations or even email or text conversations because we are both in each other's business constantly.
3. I am bad at keeping secrets.
The last time I tried to surprise Katr was several years ago when she REALLY wanted a new iPad for Christmas. I told her that I thought it was a bit too pricey and maybe a little unnecessary and she sadly agreed with my practical statements. But OF COURSE I was going to surprise her with the iPad.
So I ordered it online WHEN SHE WAS IN THE SHOWER, so she wouldn't see what I was doing. I diverted all email from Apple to a folder in my email that I didn't open if she was in the room. I was so stealth about this thing that I thought about adding "stealth" to my list of skillz on LinkedIn.
As the delivery date approached, we were getting a lot of other Christmas present-style packages in the mail, so I was confident I could hide the iPad in the shuffle of other boxes from other places. And when the UPS truck pulled up and Katr came to the door with me because she was ALSO expecting a package from UPS, I wasn't concerned.
The UPS guy came to the door with two boxes and saw us both waiting there.
"I've got packages for Roro and for Katr," he said, "who should I start with?"
"Me! Roro!" I said, matching his jocular tone.
"Okay, Roro!" he said "LET'S START WITH THE IPAD."
Why???? Why would he DO that? Katr's face filled with delight which then quickly turned to concern as I had a FULL AND VERY REAL MELTDOWN at having my carefully planned surprise ruined by UPS.
I'm still angry about it.
For Katr's 50th, I took her 50 year old Snoopy plush toy to a local bear hospital to be refurbished, a gift she CLAIMED was a huge surprise but which she actually inspired by saying "I should get Snoopy fixed!" a few months earlier. I wanted to do something totally unexpected. So when she mentioned that she wanted to have a guy come and do a video trivia night at her party, I thought it would be fun to sneak in a couple of trivia questions from...people she loves from the internet.
Katr loves board games and she is a huge fan grrrrl of board game walk-through duo, Anthony and Frances of Ant Lab Games. I am also a huge fan of them, ever since the infamous Anachrony incident of 2017 - it was their 3 hour walk-through that made the game possible. I messaged them on Facebook and asked if they would record themselves doing a trivia question. They could NOT have been nicer or more enthusiastic about it and this is what they sent:
Katr is also a huge fan of musician Christine Parker, partly thanks to her sweet music video Where You Are. She got my family hooked on Christine's music as well - and Christine had a Facebook page. You can guess what happened next:
Brian from Vancouver Trivia Party was SUPER into making this surprise happen and sneaked the questions into his trivia set. And when they came up on the screen, KATR WAS SURPRISED!!!!! And also pretty moved, as a fangrrrl should be. She is adorable. Also, she knew the answers to the trivia questions, which gave her a leg up in the game. HA ha!
Anyway, thanks, a year later, to Anthony and Frances and Christine Parker, for taking the time to make my 50th birthday surprise dreams come true. You are good, kind people. And happy 51st birthday, Katr!!! I am so happy you were born!!
