Happy Birthday Mary!

This weekend we celebrated Mary's 40th birthday...and we got her g-o-o-o-o-d!

It started with the kids and me taking her to Tokyo One for dinner on her actual birthday, and just as we sat down, a couple walked over and asked if the next seats were taken; when Mary looked up, it was Laura and Glenn Ellingson, all the way from San Jose, CA--her college roommate had made the trip!

Then Saturday afternoon, Kate, Stacy, Anna, and Colleen got all dressed up and a little after 4 in the afternoon spilled out of a limo out front, and told Mary they were taking her away for drinks for her birthday.  She and Laura got changed, then headed off in the limo to the Ritz Carlton's bar for champagne and toasts.  Meanwhile, the kids, Glenn, and I got dressed and started collecting pre-ordered balloons and cake and headed to Maggiano's over in Tyson's Corner.  I had made arrangements for a private dining room upstairs, which we decorated in time for 40 of her friends and family to show up.

When the limo brought the ladies to the restaurant, we could all yell "Surprise!" and it was.  She had NO idea that her parents had made the trip down from Vermont; nor her college friend Alicia and her husband Jake, also from Vermont; nor her cousin, Curtis, who had driven up from Norfolk and whom she hadn't seen in years.  We actually made her cry when we sang Happy Birthday to her when she walked in.

It was a very special evening that no one wanted to see end...well, except the restaurant staff, who finally had to usher us out after our closing time.  We kept the party going a bit longer today with a brunch at the house for everyone who had travelled so far to see her.  It was a tremendous way to celebrate Mary, to surround her with all the love of all her family and friends through the years.

Once we get some photos processed, we'll have them up on here too.  But the memories...oh, those will last another forty years.