Daadi's birthday isn't actually until this Wed 7/8, when she'll be 74. But, to throw a proper surprise party one has to plan, and make it fun for the surprise-ee, so Yogesh did the following:
- Listened to hear which ones of our friends she talks about, and invited them
- Had Aunt Danielle make a *yummy* cake
- Had flowers brought (by Aunt Danielle & Aunt Jen)
- Bought streamers & balloons, which we hung & blew up, respectively
- Had a local Indian restaurant deliver, so we could avoid suspicion before the party
...and it worked out
great! We hid in the living room while Daadi was in the kitchen, and she opened the sliding doors, and we sang her Happy Birthday, had cake
before dinner (and again after dinner, in my case - jiggly thighs be damned, that cake was worth it).
Deven was thrilled to 'help' blow up the balloons (and summarily let them go before tying them, to watch them flying-burping around the room); Rohan was content to roll around the floor (he's rolling, wiggling, and sort of scooching himself backwards on his belly in a semi-reverse-crawl now), and I was content to let the madness go on around us while keeping Daadi's suspicion down.
She won't tell us much, but we know she was thrilled to have a (small) fuss made over her birthday, because she giggled about the cake the next day, and gobbled down the leftover Indian food (after she was positive that others had had their fill, first). She did enjoy meeting our new friend Peter, and said as much the following day.
The rest of the weekend was spent in typical San Francisco summer fashion, playing outside in long-sleeved shirts and pants in the fog, and recovering from the party (with the requisite random popping-balloon to scare everyone).
Almost 74 years ago, Daadi was born in Ajmer, India...and I'm willing to bet her forefathers had no idea she'd end up here, in San Francisco, as live-in grandma to 2 little 'gora laerkas' (whitish boys) who love her more than anything in this world, in 2009. Happy Birthday, Daadi!
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