A quick Happy Birthday to my big brother Hans. Today is one of those landmark birthdays and he's now officially older than my mother. This involves some kind of weird paradox and feminine egos and other metaphysical things.
I have strong memories of his 30th birthday and I can't believe that it was 10 whole years ago. (That must also involve some kind of time paradox but I don't know what it is.) Anyway, when Hans turned 30 he was down in Jacksonville and most of his friends were away and it sounded like a pretty sucky time. His posting changed shortly after that and he moved up to St Paul, only a couple of blocks away from where Jodi and I were living. (He lived in a bizarrely slanted apartment where the doors had been cut into non-rectangluar shapes so they could shut. True story.)
Anyway . . . we felt bad about his lonely three oh and decided to make up for it somehow. So we threw him a half birthday surprise party. Chris and I went to a movie with him so that his apartment would be clear. On the way back in we discreetly buzzed his door to warn the partiers. He opened the door and got a big 'Surprise!'. His answer, "for what?"
There is no better way to really surprise someone than to throw a party for them on the wrong date. Especially when it's a good six months wrong. He was a bit floored. But happy.
Anyway, Happy Birthday Bro!
4 comments:
Happy Birthday to Hans! It's a real mystery as to how a son suddenly advances past his mother ...
Thanks, Peder. That party meant a lot to me and it was a lot of fun. 9 1/2 years ago already...
That was Hans that wrote that, by the way.
I'm afraid that his big 4-0 wasn't terribly special either...
Maybe I can make it up to him with a 40-1/2 birthday party!
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