A Carrie Surprise For My Birthday

I turned 30 this March. John talked me into having a celebration and I decided to celebrate by going to dinner and then Star Karaoke for an evening of singing. I have some friends that would probably do Karaoke anywhere, but I knew that in order to get the masses to sing, I would have to do something different. Star Karaoke has rooms that can be rented for an evening of private fun. The rooms are supposed to hold up to 15 people, but we were able to fit close to 20.

I was looking forward to my celebration weekend because John and Tara were going to come from SC to visit. They arrived on Friday night and the weekend was set. On Saturday morning, we made a vegan breakfast/brunch. When everything was cleaned up and we were all ready for the day, we gathered in our family room to chat.

As we were talking, the doorbell rang. This was strange as we rarely get unexpected visitors. I immediately said "who could that be?" John quickly replied that it was probably a lawn care service trying to get us treat our lawn. It seemed like a likely explanation because we have received numerous flyers from different lawn care service companies. John rushed to the door and I followed. As I approached the door, my Dad was looking in the window. This was odd, my parents never come over without calling first. I guess they wanted to come over and see John and Tara. I was wrong.....

When I got to the door, my Dad was grinning wide. As we opened the door, I started to say ask my Dad what the occasion was and then my Mom and Carried popped around the corner. I could barely speak, I was so surprised. I am not even sure how I reacted because it was all a blur, but I was happy to see my old friend, Carrie.

Leading up to this event, I knew a surprise was coming. I had overheard my Mom and John whispering about something and I heard Carrie's name. I asked John if Carrie was visiting and he said I was off base with my guess. He asked me take a Monday off from work and he led me to believe that he was taking me somewhere on Monday. It turns out that Carrie was set to stay until Monday afternoon. John is sneakier than I thought.

Carrie is one of my oldest friends. We met in second grade and by third grade, we were almost inseparable. We spent many recesses, sleep overs, dinners, and lunches together over the years. We remained close all through school. The only major fight we ever had was when were were 13. I do not remember what it was about, but we stopped talking for a couple of weeks. We made up and never fought like that again. Our friendship continued into high school where we went to school dances, homecoming, prom, the mall, Eat n' Park, Zoo Boo, etc. Most of my memories from my teenage years include Carrie. We were there for each other through all of our crushes and heartbreaks. I was even there when she had her first kiss!

It had been a while since I had seen Carrie and we were overdue for a visit. It was nice to have her see our home and meet our friends. We spent the remainder of Saturday catching up and then we headed out for my birthday fun! We had delicious Thai food at Swasasdee and then topped the evening off with Karaoke in our private room. Many of us sang the night away to our favorite songs. I was so impressed with Carrie. She had not met any of these people before and she sang her heart out! She did an awesome job! Everyone who took the mic, rocked and I am proud of those who tried! The ones who did not sing, seemed to have fun listening to all of us. :)

The next day we decided to show Carrie a bit of Durham. We went to Sarah Duke Gardens, Duke Chapel, a local taco joint, and had dinner with my parents. We spent most of the day outside in the warm sun. I was so thankful for the nice weather because Carrie lives in Ohio and she deserved to experience spring-like weather. Carrie left Monday afternoon. We woke up, I made vegan blueberry pancakes and we chatted the morning away.

This was one of the most memorable birthdays yet! A weekend visit with friends, a surprise visit from Carrie, Thai food, and Karaoke. I am not sure I could have asked for a better weekend! Catching up with Carrie was just what I needed. It had been too long since we had spent time in-person together. I cannot wait to see her again.