Party Over (Mom’s Retirement)

Party Over (Oops. Out of time.)

Tonight we totally partied like it was 2008. 

Thank you, God. The party is over.

My mom was completely overwhelmed and had no idea that we were throwing a surprise party. She came in the church door and took one look at all our goofy faces. She said, “Oh!! You’re all a bunch of liars!”

It was so sweet and funny, and we were on a high for a couple of hours, congratulating ourselves and each other that we were able to keep a secret from my mom for so long. There were probably over 100 guests during the afternoon, and my mom shed so many happy tears. She just had no idea that she’d impacted the lives of so many people that they’d all want to come and honor her in this way.

We held the party in their church basement (this is the church where I attended my whole life until Rob became a pastor), so you know it was duty which required their pastor to make an “appearance lap” around the room.

Socially Inept

My mom and dad’s pastor is a different kind of fellow. From the pulpit, it is full-on amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a good public speaker in person. The man is literally on fire when preaching.

In person, though, I can’t seem to get through his weird outer layer. He always acts like he a.) doesn’t like me b.) can’t wait to get away from me or c.) thinks I am completely stupid.

He always seems to have this wall around him. So many pastors I know are like my husband Rob, and have this gentleness about them which is difficult to describe adequately. Well Pastor Jay doesn’t have that… I’m not faulting him… he just doesn’t.

Maybe it’s because he’s quite young. I don’t know. But the fact is, the man preaches gospel and he’s been instrumental in helping two people very dear to me turn their lives over to Christ: my aunt and my coworker. Pastor Jay loves the Lord… I think he might just be socially inept.

My Rob

OOh. Seriously. Rob is an amazing man. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it. He can withstand that craziness that is my brain sometimes, the roller-coaster emotions and the nuclear meltdowns. I don’t usually have them… just when, say, the 20 pounds of Chicken salad I made for today’s party turn out to have been in a malfunctioning cooler overnight, which means the salad sat for 12 hours at 65 degrees.

Chicken and mayo at 65 degrees for 12 hours.You don’t have to be a whiz at story problems to figure out that it’s a recipe for food poisoning.

So Rob drove to the nearest deli (where cousin Ashton works and who called in a favor to get the cold cut tray put together in time for our party) and got the meat and came back in time to yell “Surprise” at my mom.

During the party, Rob kept helping out in the kitchen. I actually had to ask him to please go socialize. He has two jobs and works them both from home… so he sees nobody during the week besides me and church people on Sundays. Rob is a very social person and even if he says he’s fine, he’s not. He loves people. He loves talking to people and finding out the scoop.

So in the end, we all weren’t sure if my mom did more talking at the party today, or if Rob did. Either way, my heart is glad, and my head and hands are tired.

God is amazing.