A birthday surprise

On Friday, September 2nd, I had plans to go to the movies with Marjon, a good friend of mine. We were celebrating my birthday together. It was going to be a wonderful time, though I had no clue what we were supposed to watch. After supper, Friday, I left my house to meet Marjon at her house. I was going to be right on time for the time she appointed...8:15 p.m. Just as I was coming to her road I saw her riding towards me. She said that she needed to go to the grocery store first. Of course, since it was our evening to celebrate together I went with her. I chatted away the whole time. We arrived at the store. She needed to buy a drink and wanted some candy. We chose M&M's. I then decided to also get a drink. Finally, we were checking out. Once we walked outside, Marjon noticed that she forgot our reservation ticket for the movies. We had to go back to her house to get it. That was fine with me because I had some things I wanted to leave at her house.

We arrived in front of her house. I looked in the front window into the kitchen, which is normal. I noticed that Robert (Marjon's brother), his girlfriend Kelly, Dorien (Marjon's sister), and her boyfriend Eric were all home. It'd been awhile since I'd seen that. "Well", I figured, "they can wish me a happy birthday. That'll be nice." They let us in and I walked into the living room, as usuall. And suddenly I realized that I wouldn't be going to the movies that night. There was a large circle of seats in the leaving room and in them were sitting people (weird, right?). But these people weren't just any people. They were my friends from all over. There were friends from Nieuwegein, my friends from Gorinchem, and later on arrived friends from in IJsselstein. It was amazing. And they all came for my birthday party. I didn't know what to say. I also couldn't figure out how the IJsselstein crew got in touch with the Gorinchem crew. I'd never introduced them, except through stories about one another. I was amazed and happy.

I later learned that my host family was also in on the surprised. Jack and Danielle knew about the whole thing for quite some time. Danielle also knew that my Gorinchem crew were going to be attending. So she decdided to have a bit of fun with it. Earlier on Friday my host family held a previously mentioned birthday party for about 10 kids. Before the party happened I was chatting on the internet with Gorinchem friend, Benjamin. Danielle suggested that I invite him over for 3:00 cake. She did this with the full knowledge that he couldn't come because he was going to the surprise party later on. Benjamin had to think of an excuse for not coming. I helped him, without realizing it. So, I guess that everyone really got to have a lot of fun out of it. I had fun being surprised, my friends had fun surprising to me, and Danielle had fun torturing Benjamin. All profited from the occassion. Seriously though, I had the best birthday party of my life. I will remember it always. It was absolutely amazing and unforgetable.

And now I'd like to take this time to thank Dorien. Dorien was awesome. She was the entire master mind behind the party. She did all the planning. She even called my friends in Gorinchem, whom she'd never met, to invite them. She even had to find their phone number through major research by getting their last name from me (actually, I have been told it wasn't that difficult due to the fact that she asked me their last name and I gave it and then just continued talking...as usuall). Dorien, you're amazing. I'd also like to thank Simon for arranging for the delicious cakes that everyone ate. And last but not least, I'd like to thank everyone that made my 23rd birthday such a memorable event. Thank you all and I love you all very much.

pictures of this event will be added as available.