Happy 55th Mom!

Mom turned 55 on July 11th. I think it's important to celebrate those milestone birthdays, you know like 20, 25... 50, 55, etc. I decided it'd be fun to surprise Mom with her closest friends on her birthday. I tossed around some ideas of what to do and with Courtney's help we decided to have everyone meet for lunch at Casa Torres in Decatur to surprise her. I sent out an evite to her friends, who I had email addresses for, and called the others. That was the easy part. Surprising her and getting her to cooperate was a little harder. I told her Courtney and I wanted to take her to lunch on her birthday so I would probably arrive from Frisco around 12:30. She liked the idea so I could tell she didn't know we were up to anything. The day of her birthday I stayed in contact with Courtney to make sure she and mom were getting around to come "meet me". This proved to be a little more difficult. I headed to Decatur earlier than mom thought I was so I could get to the restaurant first and make sure they were getting seating ready for 11. She called me when I was about 30 minutes away so I told her I had just left. She wanted to know if we could push back the time because she was getting around slow, had just taken a shower, and didn't want to rush. For a split second I thought "Man, I'm going to have to tell her and ruin the surprise." Then I thought again. I'd just be demanding. She wouldn't think it was anything out of the ordinary. Haha. I told her I really wanted to meet at 12:30 because I was already on the way and I would be really hungry by the time I got to town. She bought it and reluctantly said okay. I arrived at the restaurant around 12:10 and shortly after mom's friends started arriving as well. We got seated pretty quickly. Mom & Dad live super close to the restaurant so I told Court I would text her when everyone was there and then they could leave. Around 12:35 everyone had arrived and I told Court to come. I had talked to her on the phone and she said "Where are y'all sitting?" Yikes! But mom didn't hear her so that was good. Court called me right as they were walking in so I'd be ready with the camera. They entered the entry way of the area we were sitting and mom was shocked when she saw all of us and we started clapping and saying surprise. Other people sitting near us even joined in! I could tell she'd had NO idea. It was great! We ate, chatted, opened gifts, and had cake. It was a great birthday, which she commented on many times during the weekend. I love you mom! Happy 55th! Here's to many, many more! :-)