Wow -- What a Weekend!

This is gonna be a LONG post, so pop your popcorn, grab a cold beverage, and enjoy!

My online buddies have heard me for a YEAR talkin' about how excited I was to be turning 50 this year. I really was looking forward to it -- I'm not sure WHY -- but I think it has a lot to do with the convergence of my children being grown and (mostly) gone, and the fact that I have worked very hard to be in the best shape of my adult life -- physically and emotionally. I know that as the years go on from here the inevitability of knowing my husband and I have fewer years together left than what we've shared intensifies the desire to truly live them together fearlessly and joyfully.

Anyway, with all that in mind, my RML friends began hatching nefarious plans back in OCTOBER, for heaven's sake! Regular readers of my blog may remember that it was then several of us met in St. Louis. Well, the afternoon after we'd visited the Arch, and after we'd stopped for lunch to watch the end of an Alabama football game and experienced our Heidi moment (which Carrie will NEVER live down!), a handful of us were sauntering back to the hotel when we happened upon this wonderful little hat shop. In that shop window were the most outrageously beautiful hats we'd ever seen, and the two young women who worked there waved at us to come in. We spent a wonderful many, many minutes trying on increasingly amazing hats -- the sorts of things you see regal African-American women wear to church on Sundays. One of the hats I stuck on my head was a big ol' red thang with a big fine feather.

photo courtesy SuziQ from Oregon

I never thought I could wear hats, but I honestly admired this one -- and wished I were bold enough to actually wear something like it! The hats all eventually went back to their little resting places, and we moved on back to the hotel. End of story. NOT.

Apparently, Laura from Cincinnati decided I needed that hat, and since I had not shut up about turning 50 from the day I turned 49, she thought it would be a hoot to get folks to do something outrageous and buy the darned thing for me, and she went back and bought it! Of course, I had no idea that this was going on!

Flash forward to several weeks ago, when my friend Karen started makin' noises about coming to Montgomery to make sure Henry didn't screw up another big birthday. As the days drew nearer our friend Melissa decided she'd drive in from Auburn -- she needed a break, and this was a good excuse to cut loose. I began to look around for things we could do Saturday night, and lit on the idea of attending the Biscuits game -- for which I wanted to get really nice tickets, therefore requiring me to get them in advance. Well. The two of them hemmed and hawed about it until I stuck my bottom lip out, and I finally got a little e-mail from Karen saying, "Yes. We would love to go to the ball game, but buy 2 extra tickets and hush up about it."

So, now I know that at least two people are planning on surprising me, but Karen will NOT give me any more information, so for the 10 days or so leading up to the Weekend I was on our thread, reading between every line..... Q and Auntie-C are saying they are VERY sick (sure!).... Betty is swearing she and her husband are going to Williamsburg to pick up their daughter after a school trip to D.C. (right!), Carrie's yammering about in-laws coming in and that she'll be scarce over the weekend (HAHAHA -- sure!!!), Mel's going on about how her daughter "needs" her to help her move in her new apartment (oh, like I buy that)... well. You get the drift.

Things were working up to a fever pitch in my little brain by the time Wednesday rolled around, and then I heard again from Karen -- her doctor had grounded her, clipped her wings, pulled the travel rug out from under her. A nasty bout of bronchitis had taken its toll on her and she was going to have to pull out of the weekend. I was just heartbroken -- but also glad she was finally putting herself above anybody else for a change, and well, HEY -- Melissa was still coming, and the Mystery Guests were still coming, and the Blooms were going to join us for dinner, and at least one Hails was gonna join us for dinner, so all was mostly alright with the world.

Somewhere in the middle of all this plotting and scheming came a call from my mother, with instructions that I go buy myself a nice dress to wear on my birthday. It's like pullin' teeth to get me to do that EVER, but I had dragged Henry out and he and I found three dresses that I liked. We went to show them to Mama -- and of the three, there was a simple black and white one she said I HAD to wear on that Sunday. (Surprise, surprise, my mother was in on the whole thing!)

I think it's kinda funny that nobody -- before we went shopping -- said anything about colors -- it's a sign of something when your husband and your mother know you will stick to dark colors like black and navy!

So now it's Friday, April 18th, and we are heading to La Zona Rosa..... I've got butterflies in my stomach, mainly because I'm in a flower-dy sundress unlike anything I have owned in eons, and I just do not know who's gonna be there. We find our table straight away -- our favorite waiter, Alex, is all ready, and we are HUNGRY. It seems to us a quiet eternity -- maybe NObody is coming -- Melissa's running late, the table suddenly looks very bare -- when I glance up and see LAURA AND LINDA!!!! All the way from Cincinnati, OH and Winterville, NC!!! OMG -- unbelievable! They'd both been spouting off on the thread all morning about being SO busy at work, and I totally didn't read between those lines because they both have been for a couple weeks. Then the Blooms came in, then Melissa, and finally Betsy. It was time to party!

GeeGaw, the long-purloined traveling mascot for RML found his way back to Montgomery (thanks, Laura!), there was lots of margarita activity, lots of eating, and then Henry shows up with a Box. A Big Box. A "is this another treasure chest of promotional pens?" size box.

Well. No. It was a Box from the Levine Hat Shop in St. Louis!!!

photo courtesy of Melissa

Well, I was just flabbergasted, is what I was -- I popped that thang on my head, screamed a couple times, and the entire restaurant just applauded! It was the coolest thing I'd had happen to me in forever, and I mean it. Of course, at this point, Betsy and Anne and Hal are wondering what on earth is going on - -- and I think we explained it, but frankly, by then between the two wonkin' big margaritas I'd had and the emotional WOW, I don't remember much of anything after that point.

Before I post the Saturday report, I have to add at least one brief funny.... when I woke up Saturday morning, my husband gently pointed out to me that THE PRICE TAG WAS STILL ON MY GIRLY-GIRLY DRESS!!! This is why you should always have a tag person following you around, but I am lacking in entourage assigned for this purpose. Of course, it was quite convenient that the batwings musta blown that sucker back inside the dress, so they can serve a purpose....