Surprise Party for 75 Year Old Man...

Well, this weekend I went home with my sister and John (sans David Pookiekins) to share in the delight that comes from surprising my grandfather on my mom's side with a birthday party. He turned 75 this past Friday and has never had a birthday party in his whole life, so my mom and uncles thought they'd throw him one. Why never a birthday party? Well, he grew up pretty poor and they didn't really have much, so they didn't observe birthdays often. Or many holidays for that matter. For Christmas, he and his brothers would get a peppermint stick and an orange and be THRILLED beyond words...kind of makes you regret whining about getting the blue Power Wheels 4-wheeler instead of the yellow one. 

Papaw was born on the first day of Spring. As my mother so cleverly pointed out, it's the first day of Spring every year...how weird it works out like that, huh, Mom. And every year, on that first day of Spring, Papaw reminds us that the day he was born, there was 6 feet of snow on the ground and later that afternoon, he was out playing in it. It's odd, but every year, the snow gets deeper and deeper when he tells that story. Anyways. 

Why would we have a surprise party for a 75 year old man? Well, Papaw is solid rock. You can't really scare him. He is the original jump-out-of-a-dark-corner-and-scare-someone prankster. He's immune to it. HOWEVER...when he arrived at the party...he was under the impression that me, Mamaw, my mom, and my sister were going outlet shopping and he was meeting my Uncle Greg and Aunt Becky for lunch for his birthday. He came into the restaurant and U. Greg and A. Becky walked him slowly into the room and we, in a normal inside-voice, said, "Hey Papaw! Happy Birthday!" and sang to him. It was then that he almost fainted, he told us later. I'm thinking, NOW you choose to get all fluttery? It was funny. And he was fine. Friends and family celebrated with us and Papaw told us some great stories, as usual. 

I stole these pictures from Sara. Thanks, sistah!

Here is the cake...all of Papaw's "buddies" (Obama, Biden, the Clintons, Teddy, Nancy, etc.) were able to join us for the partay, too. He promptly gave us his "shooosh...oooh nahh ahh...who put this on there?! I ain't eatin' this cake (chuckle chuckle)!" But it was some delicious cake, so we still had to eat it. 

Papaw being surprised whilst saying "You girls are liars...y'all fooled me!" 

75!

Mamaw "helping" him lick the candles.

A Rhode Island Red Rooster! Papaw talks about those roosters at least twice a day. Something about he wanted one running around the house because they're pretty?? I'm not quite sure.

Hmmm...what could this be? 

It's an autographed (photoshopped) picture of Papaw and Obama! Well, I'll be. He was tickled pink (ha, not really). It says "Happy Birthday, to my old pal, Bill!" My cousin's girlfriend, Lesley made that for him knowing Papaw would "love" it. In the above picture, he's looking at me because he thinks I did it. Nope, you take it out on Lesley! 

Mom. 

So, we had a great time and Papaw was definitely surprised!