Chris had been away all week. He missed his birthday. He wasn't feeling great (I think he was suffering from food poisoning), but whatever it was, he would call us each night around 7 pm to say hi and then goodnight and then sleep soundly for about twelve hours until he had to get up the next morning for meetings. We surprised him with a FaceTime call around 7 pm on his birthday and sang "Happy Birthday". I supposed that was a little bit of cheer on an otherwise not-so-great day that should have been great.
Anyway, he was coming home on Friday evening. I had been arranging with friends to surprise him for dinner. When he told me how he was feeling throughout the week, I was tempted to call things off, but gave him a few days to recover. Ben and Claudia Ahlstrom were kind enough to give me a ride to Hacienda Colorado to meet up with Chris (he came from the airport). Unfortunately, I couldn't leave early enough to beat him to the restaurant. I had to drop Amy off at her friend's house, Kristen had a Halloween party, and Misha was at a sleepover--and they all had to be deposited before I could head off to meet Chris. So when Chris called and said he was almost to the restaurant and asked how many people we needed to have a table for (thinking that perhaps Ahlstroms would be joining us), I should have just said that I had already called ahead. Instead I said, "13."
"What?' he asked thinking that maybe he had heard me wrong.
"13." I repeated.
Well, at least he hadn't suspected anything up until that point. He was touched that I would surprise him and honestly touched that so many good friends would come to celebrate him.
