We’ve just come off several days of birthday high that included a little bit of spring, a little bit of winter, dinner with friends, “Goodbye New York, Hello Fayetteville” t-shirts, lunch outside, a trip to the Met, a rainy road trip, the Central Park carousel, a wipeout that required a nose Bandaid for Huck, ice cream filled with lots of toppings, several homemade cheesecakes, Stardust Memories, calls from Kansas, the promise of a heavenly massage, some amazing books, a Dusty Brown concert complete with requests, and my first ever Surprise Party!

Troy and some neighborhood friends somehow succeeded in lying to me for weeks as they plotted to give me what I’ve been wanting for years.  I thought we were dropping Huck off at our friends Nancy and Scott’s for a sleepover while we met Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Dottie for ONCE on Broadway.  So determined was I to be on time to the show, which would have meant catching our friends heading into the party headquarters apartment, that Troy actually pretended to slice off part of his finger with a butcher knife to delay me.  From the kitchen he yelled, “DO NOT COME IN HERE!  WHATEVER YOU DO!” knowing that if there’s a chance I’ll see lots of human blood, I will stay far away.  I began to feel lightheaded and had to put my head between my knees while Troy acted his guts out in the next room and Huck, innocent to all the deception surrounding him, comforted his poor little mother.  Troy finally got the bleeding to stop, although he kept feeling dizzy and had to lean against things, which slowed us down some more.  I arrived about ten feet ahead of my slowpoke family at exactly 7:02, which was seven minutes past when I wanted to be there and two minutes past when I was supposed to be there. (Apparently I’m not easy to plan a surprise party for, what with my controlling punctuality.)  The next thing I knew people were jumping out of rooms and yelling surprise and I was confused and disoriented and literally spent the entire party trying to piece together this new reality. And the reality was we were seeing ONCE the following Friday, and for this night I was surrounded by dear friends feeling special and frazzled. And Troy’s finger was FINE.  (I may never get over that part.)

So the April Birthday Train has left the station – and in the midst of it we marked 22 years of Jonny & Troy Togetherdom – leaving us feeling happy, in need of a nap, and very thankful!

(Huck’s thinking, “So I’m NOT going to a sleepover?”)

Dusty sings my favorite U2 Song!