Suzanne & Linda
by Bob Sparrow
Who has a better sister and wife than I do? NoooooooooBody!! At the risk of beating a dead horse, or at least an old horse, for our readers, I must revisit my 70th birthday celebration and thank a number of people who made it such an AMAZING event. My first thank you goes to my lovely wife Linda, who orchestrated a weekend of surprise after surprise. Granted when you have a husband who is totally clueless, it’s easy to pull off surprises, but nonetheless she did a masterful job – a week after the event, I still don’t suspect anything!
With the ‘Big One’ approaching, Linda asked me how I wanted to celebrate the conclusion of my 70th trip around the sun. I said I didn’t want a big party, just something with the FAMILY. That was the end of my participation. Several days later she told me that she’d booked four villas in Palm Desert at the Marriott Desert Springs, where we love spending a week every April at our timeshare. Perfect, just the kids, grandkids and us.
Cocktails at Jackalope in the desert
Late Thursday afternoon, while grubbing around in the yard, the doorbells rings, Linda asks me to get it. I come to the door in tattered jeans and dirty t-shirt; it’s my brother, Jack and wife Sharon, I greet them with the warm welcome of, “What the hell are you guys doing here?!” They responded with a Happy Birthday and that they are going to Palm Desert with us. I’m thrilled. Later that evening (I did sneak in a shower and change of clothes) the doorbell rings again and, still clueless, I go to the door and there are four couples of our good friends, Mark & Kathy, Jack & JJ, Bob & Marge and John and Judy – they’re standing at our front door singing Christmas carols that turn into Happy Birthday. When we’re all seated at the bar in our family room, Linda brings out a small box and asks me to open it. It is a brochure for a 12-day trip for two to Kathmandu, Nepal, which includes a 5-day trek through the foothills of the Himalaya! My jaw drops!!! She says, there is no way she’s going, that the trip is for my brother and me. All I can say is “AMAZING!”
Jack, Suzanne & me
By mid-day Friday we’re checking in at the Villas in Palm Desert. When we got there, there is only one villa that has been cleaned and available, so we walked over to the hotel and had some lunch at poolside in perfect weather. Upon our return I walked into the one villa we had and I see a man, with his back to us, sitting out on the deck, and assume I went into the wrong villa. Then one of my favorite people and one of the funniest I know, turns around and wishes me a Happy Birthday – it’s Matt Sparrow, my nephew – Jack’s son. Fast forward to mid-day Saturday and I get my annual birthday phone call from my sister, who always calls me and sings Happy Birthday the way Marilyn Monroe sang it to Jack Kennedy. As I’m standing there listening to her, she walks in the door – she had just flown in from Scottsdale – AMAZING! Later that afternoon close friends and ‘practically family members’, Mark, Kathy and daughter, Kristin (best friend of our daughter, Dana) arrived to celebrate the occasion.
Joe & Dana
One last surprise remained. I was told to stay in my villa as preparations for ‘the party’ Saturday evening were taking place in Joe & Dana’s villa. When I was asked to ‘come to the party’ I was blown away. Dana and Joe had decorated the villa with pictures at ‘food stations’ they’d created representing a number of the places we’ve visited, Italy (Meatballs marinara, Fried cheese, beef Carpaccio with lemon arugula), Africa (Moroccan lamb kabobs with Tzatziki sauce, veggie couscous, roasted plantains), Japan (Ahi and Yellowtail crudo, crying tiger beef skewers, garlic and chili edamame) and Hawaii (Kalua pork sliders on Hawaiian rolls, grilled pineapple, Ahi poke). All the food was AMAZING! There we also ‘drink stations’ from Ireland (beer and Irish whiskey), my Dad’s famous martinis at ‘Poppin’s Grotto’ and ‘Klappers’ (cheap rum and diet cola) named after my dearly departed best friend, Don Klapperich. The birthday cake, in a ‘travel and music’ theme had a quote from me about traveling and seeing things a little differently than most. Dana then gave me a box decorated in the ‘travel and music’ theme that she had put together, containing 70 individual birthday wishes from friends and family (you saw my sister’s in last week’s blog) – they were AMAZING! A huge thank you to those who took the time to write something nice and send it back (for some I’m certain it took quite some time to find something nice to say). Seriously, I am was touched and am blessed to have such wonderful friends.
Stephanie, Jeff & Dana
Thank you to an AMAZING FAMILY, especially those who made this an unforgettable (even for a forgetful 70 year old) experience – Stephanie, Jason, Dylan & Emma; Dana & Joe, Jeff, Jack & Sharon, Suzanne, Matt, (Mark, Kathy & Kristin) and especially to Linda whose dedication to FAMILY is unsurpassed. To quote Lou Gehrig, “I am the luckiest man on the face of the earth”.
OK, enough with the birthday stuff, I’ve got some really interesting places to take you next year – hope you’ll enjoy them vicariously ‘from a bird’s eye view’.
HOPE YOU AND YOUR FAMILY HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND AN ADVENTUROUS NEW YEAR!
