March 19 - ”Surprise”

After a morning of scraping old paint and digging in a flower bed, we drove into Texas.  We had been invited to be a part of an attempt to surprise a sweet lady from Seaside.  Sam is about my age and has never had a surprise birthday party before.  In fact from the sounds of the scuttlebutt as we waited for her to arrive, she hasn’t been surprised for any occasion … ever. 

The venue was a family-style barbecue and chicken fried steak restaurant near Ann’s (Sam’s step-mom) house.  Apparently it is their family’s gathering place of choice for all family events.  Last night they even had a live band made up of several retired workers from the Houston Chronicle.  We had the inside scoop on them because Ann worked with them all for 30 years as the Chronicle’s food editor. 

The word we got was that we needed to be there by 5:15, and Sam was supposed to arrive by 5:30.  Traffic was horrendous.  Imagine that?  Spring Break in Galveston and Rodeo in Houston.  Why wouldn’t the traffic be bad?  We made good time, though, and arrived right at 5:30.  Hustling inside so we wouldn’t spoil the surprise, we had a surprise of our own.  We were the only ones there.  Not in the whole restaurant.  It was hopping.  But no one from the party was there.  Not Ann.  Not Sam’s sister, Cathy.  Not Jennifer from church (the one who invited us).  We thought maybe we had been punked.  But there was a reserved table.  And the guy who owned the restaurant personally welcomed us, encouraged us to get a drink, and helped us find our way around.  And I remembered that Sam has told us before that her family has a way of being late for virtually every event imaginable.  Ann finally got there around 6.  Jennifer arrived shortly thereafter, as did Cathy.  Traffic was the culprit and the topic of conversation all around.  Well, that and the fact that Cathy’s weimeraner had won a dog show competition in Dallas that morning.

Cathy had the cake, so now we were officially ready to party.  When Sam finally walked in around 6:45 or so, our little band of revelers was ready to do our shouts of surprise and get started on some chicken fried steak or baked potatoes or even catfish.  So Sam was surprised.  The Squirrel special cake from HEB was delicious.  The company was lots of fun.  Thanks for the invitation, and as someone at the party said, “Thanks, Sam, for being born and giving us an excuse to have a party.”

1 Timothy 6:11 says, “But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.”

Father, bless Sam.  Give her healthy and happy days.  Amen.