When I turned 25, it was momentous milestone in my life, not for the quarter century it marked, but for the things I had endured and had finally put behind me. At that point I had been living in Nashville for a year and half, and had suffered a cruel breakup and more job drama than I thought possible. It had been a year of deep depression and perilous financial situations, but on March 28th, 2007, I was finally coming out on the brighter and better side of my ordeal.
That day had been typical at work, and I never thought twice when my friend Cristy emailed to see if I was up for a trip to the mall afterwork. Around the same time, my roommate Kendall emailed to say that netflix had mailed Borat, a movie I was dying to see. It only made sense to invite Cristy to nix our plans at the mall and come over to the house for our movie night. As we drove the 30 minutes towards my home, me in my Honda Element, and Cristy in her Mini Cooper, I was happy to daydream and enjoy my birthday with the comfort of good friends.
When I pulled up to the house, nothing seemed amiss. I just went right up to the door and opened it...and was met with the biggest chorus of “surprise” I'd ever heard. Kendall and Cristy had somehow managed to coordinate a huge surprise party that I never in a million years would've anticipated. Between Cristy, Kendall, and my friend Kate from Brentwood Benson, they had pulled together a massive group of former coworkers, current coworkers, church friends, neighbors and the like for one perfect party. Decorating the house were posters encouraging me that 25 was a milestone and a sign of great things to come. How true! I was so stunned I didn't know what I was doing. I don't remembered if I cried, but I remember telling Kendall that a plan so intensive would guarantee our friendship for life. It has been and will always be a pinnacle moment in my life.
It was with those same memories that I began to plan for Roman's birthday on December 14th. Now, as Christians, Roman and I love each other very much. But as man and woman sharing a home, we've had our ups and downs. It was my hope that organizing a shindig for him here in Limon would be the perfect way to show him just how important he is to me. I wanted him to realize that even far from the friends and family that would normally be wishing him well, that he had new friends and family here in Limon that loved and cared for him just as much.
It began with me and Ninfa, after our Monday Night Fellowship group. She had thrown the idea of a surprise party out in passing, and so we began planning in secret, each of us calling or talking to other people we knew were important to him, and soon we had a huge group of Ticos committed to celebrating Roman's birthday in style. The only problem I anticipated came from the scheduled arrival of Bishop Sam Grey- how would I be able to pull him aside and let him know our plans? Yet, somehow things worked out, and the Bishop became a crucial part of the diversion we staged while the party took shape.
I had told Roman that I wanted to take him to dinner for his birthday at a local restaurant that overlooks the whole city. The plan was that they would meet me at the call center where I work and we'd proceed from there to dinner. The only problem with that was the fact that we can see our house from the restaurant, so we'd be able to see people coming and going as they prepared for the party. So instead the Bishop and Leo Pixley, one of our main contacts here, crafted an excellent scheme to stall while the party came together.
The idea was that Leo would not want to eat at the restaurant I had selected, and that Sam would suggest a restaurant that didn't really exist in order to get us far enough out of the way for the party to have sufficient time to prepare. So Sam drove us on an incredible drive to Moin, a port just north of town. Then, he “realized” while we were searching for the imaginary restaurant that he had forgotten his wallet at home. So homeward we went, stalling a little more as needed. When we arrive, the Bishop went upstairs and then immediately ran back down, telling Roman that our cat had caught something he wouldn't believe. Of course, Roman hit the deck running.
I don't know yet whether or not he was really surprised when the entire city of Limon jumped out to surprise him, but if he felt anything like I did that wonderful day nearly two years ago, then I know this memory will be one he treasures for many years to come.
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