Party On!

I was hoping that Patti would not get clued into the surprise we had instore for her. The planning for this party started back in March. We were really worried about my mom spilling the beans over the last 7+ months.

Mike and mom were going to spend the night at my house since I live closest to the airport and our flight was at 6:00 in the morning. I went down to Pueblo Friday night to get mom. Mom and I sat around for a few minutes before getting ready to come back up to my house. Right when we were getting ready to leave her house the phone rang. It was Patti calling to say hi. I waved mom off, mouthing that I wasn't there. She understood and didn't spill the beans. She did say something about coming up here to do some Christmas shopping. That was a mistake. Mom doesn't drive more than 5 miles EVER. It confused Patti, but she didn't question it too much.

Mike was going to spend the night at my house, but he was working at the bar. He said he would be there around midnight. Mom went to bed around 10. I fell asleep on the couch around midnight waiting for Mike to arrive. I woke up when he walked through the door... at 2:30. This was 1 hour before I was planning on getting up for a pre-flight shower. I went to bed and turned up my alarm. I think I tossed and turned for 45 minutes before I fell asleep again, then the music came blaring. DAMN IT!

I got in the shower then started waking people up. Mom was pretty easy. Mike was really tough. I know it sucked just having about an hour and a half of sleep, but we needed to get moving. Then I realized that we got about 3 inches of snow overnight. We ended up leaving about 20 minutes later than I was comfortable. We were a little late getting to our gate, but we made it.

Then we waited... and waited. We needed de-icing. I knew this was going to be pushing our 50 minute layover in Chicago. We made up some time due to a tail wind but we ended up only having 30 minutes to get from O'Hare's concourse F to concourse C. Mom is 77 years old. We asked for a wheelchair at our stops, apparently they didn't get that memo. We asked how long it was going to be... too long, and running was out of the question. We got direction to the concourse shuttle and got there as fast as we could. When we got to concourse C I ran ahead to have them hold the gate. We made it with just a couple minutes to spare.

Off we went to Ann Arbor, had some homemade pizza compliments of my brother-in-law John. My niece Kati was there too. She seemed to be in great spirits. Last time I saw her was last Christmas, a few weeks after she lost her mother and I lost my sister. It was really good to see her.

We loaded up and headed to the party in Farmington Hills. We arrived and barely knew everyone, but they all knew us. Most of the people there were from Patti's dance troupe The Madame Cadillac Dance Theatre (yes, that's my sister in the top pic and the middle of the bottom pic). I had met a couple of them when they came to Paula's memorial last year.

Everyone not associated with the dance company were to hide in the bedrooms and not come out until Patti was in the living room. We totally shocked the hell out of her, then jumped right into singing Happy Birthday. Knowing my sister I was expecting her to cry a bit, but I think she was even too shocked for tears. It's a good thing heart trouble doesn't run in our family. She freaked out for a good 15 minutes about the whole thing before settling down.

We then nibbled on a number of different things that people had prepared. The main things were salmon, roast beef, fake crab meat, Vienna sausages, and an assortment of breads, cheeses, and veggies.

As we were eating the jazz trio was setting up. I can't remember the name of this group, but I guess they are fairly well know in the southern Michigan jazz circles. They were absolutely incredible. They mostly played as 2 guitars and a cello (yes, a jazz cello), but sometimes one of the guitar players would whip out his clarinet. They really blew me away. There was lots of dancing. What would you expect from a dance company? Although I can play the hell out of swing I have not learned how to dance to it. My sister and her friends really went to it. I was thoroughly impressed.

We all hung out and told stories for a bit and eventually it was time to head back to Ann Arbor. It started snowing during the party, so by the time we left there was a few inches on the ground. I stayed awake to help keep Billy awake while he drove.

We slept in the next morning (MUCH needed). Patti and Bruce came by around noon. Bruce unfortunately had to leave early to go to his daughter's concert at her college in Kalamazoo. He left Patti behind to visit with us.

When you get all of us Shanks' around a table it can sure get loud, but it is also extremely funny.

Unfortunately, I did not find time to meet a Blogger friend of mine while I was there. We didn't coordinate our schedules prior to my departure.

We didn't get to do the bonfire for Paula, but maybe we will do one at Christmas.