Alfano Archives: Darren turns 40!!!

The kids and I drove to Wichita this last weekend to celebrate Darren's 40th birthday. Although I am much to young to have a brother that's 40, no one consulted me on allowing him to get older. Mom planned a surprise party for him at the church and it was not easy to pull off. Darren is never in town and mom had to plot with his boss Pat to arrange it so he had to be in Wichita. Some how they did it! Then the kids and I left Friday morning and drove all day to Wichita. Unfortuantely Darren's car was parked in the driveway when we got there. He didn't know we were coming. That was a surprise too. I called mom as we pulled up and she said to act like we were surprising them. I told the kids to walk in and tell Mema surprise and NOT to mention anything about Uncle Darren's birthday. Gab's loved being able to yell surprise when we walked in which really helped our cover and mom was very convincing in her surprise. I'm not sure how much I'm going to trust her reactions from now on. She was way too good at lying. Thankfully my best friend Debbie had just had her new baby Cameron Lee and I added coming to she her and her new little one as part of the surprise. Thanks for timing that just right for me Deb. I had talked with her monthes earlier about if she could manage to have the baby around then as it would be really convient for me. She's got great timing.

Mom, dad, and the kids and I went out to Cici's for dinner (the kids favorite) and then did a little running to get a couple of last minute things for the party.

The next day Darren came over for breakfast and we all went to mom and dad's usual hang out at McD's. It's their "Cheers", everyone knows them by name. I agreed to go shopping with Darren to get him out of the way so mom could get everything ready and loaded in the car. She called me while we were out shopping and gave me the story of having to help her serve a brunch at the church with her because someone had cancelled on her. I went back to their house, changed and we headed to pick up some of the food and set the church up. My grandmother who is suffering from a sever case of shingles willed herself to be well enough to go to the party. Darren is very special to her and does a lot for her. My Aunt Pat was there as well from Oklahoma City to help out and celebrate as well. Uncle Larry and his wife Helen stayed upstairs to guide guests in and warned us when Darren showed up. I had called him and told him we needed his help carrying some stuff. He had been hanging out with Dad and Nick. They walked in and we yelled surprise. We knew he was surprised because he turned every shade of red you can imagine. We had a great time. Darren's best friends from California came, Sharon and Greg. That was also a surprise to him. We had a lot of fun.

The kids and I left the next morning to go back to Denver and I never got the chance to see Debbie and Cameron. I will defintely see them next time!