Dad's Surprise 60th Party

Here is the video, courtesy of Mrs Cook, of my dad being surprised out of his mind yesterday! We actually managed to keep a huge secret like that from my dad for over two months, which is basically a miracle of God. The decoy was that my dad was meeting my brother Dan and his wife, Liz, for a birthday lunch at Pal Joey's Pizza. Instead, my dad found 50 of his friends and relatives all gathered in the back third of the restaurant with party blowers and cheers! I must say it is the first purely happy day I have had since Kevin passed away. I honestly felt elated throughout the entire day. People asked if planning it was really stressful, but mostly it was incredibly fun. I have such respect and admiration for my dad and I felt honored to be able to plan this for him. Also, sometimes it is nice to not have to worry about a bunch of other people coming through on things.

I do have to give props to Jenny, Matt, Adam, Bobby, Laura, Dan, Liz and cousin Jim for all of their help. Jenny helped put up decorations, let me use her easel (Booger did too), she filmed my dad's entrance and generally entertained my family members for several hours. Bobby was particularly enamored with her. My dad has volunteered to be honorary Grandpa "Papa Jim" to her children, so Ben get ready to be an honorary Duncan. Matt Beese helped with set up, guarded my purse, took a few pictures and stayed until the very end to load my car. What a sweetheart! My siblings obviously helped with my dad, ideas, encouragement, set up and putting up with my craziness. My cousin Jim, who will probably never read this blog but oh well, jumped right in to help with set up, wrangling the crowd of unruly relatives and making me laugh through it all.

Finally, I promised that I would post a copy of the poem that I wrote for my dad so people could read it for themselves. It is somewhat sappy sentimental, but I think the event warranted it:

Dad,
You have been so strong;
Fought hard and fought long
To be there when I needed you
To not just say things but see them through.

At two you held me in your arms
You saw my silly girlish charms
You gave me all of your love and affection
You opened your heart and offered protection.

At ten you took me camping and fishing
Gave me pennies to do my wishing
I could always count on you for ice cream at night
Served in a giant bowl, which was only right

At fifteen I seemed so weird
Dying my hair and piercing my ears
But even when I was covered in black
You knew when to hug me, and when to stand back.

As a young woman you took my arm
Kept me on my feet and held me firm
Only to hand me to another man
And let me go, as only a father can.

You could not have known how life would change me
Raise me up only to break me
Where once I was a little girl,
I stood a woman with the weight of the world.

Once again you took my hand
How you stayed strong I’ll never understand
You gave me your faith, when I had none
When the darkness surrounded me, you and Mom were my Sun

If nothing else, I want you all to hear
My love for my dad, who is also my hero
To know this man, to call him father
To be given his name, has been my honor.