BIRTHDAY SURPRISES!

I woke up today to just one of many lovely surprises. My flatmate had made a banner for me that she hung over the living room door (which has unofficially become my office) and she had treats and a card at my spot on the table and a big sheet on one of the couches which she had told me I wasn't to uncover/look at until I returned home. She thought that being so far away from home and having a birthday so soon might be difficult and wanted to help make it special.

I got to school ready to begin the day and to be honest was a bit perturbed and mildly annoyed that one of my parents kept lingering around the classroom for no apparent reason while we were having morning circle. She had mentioned wanting to see another teacher so when we'd walked up to our class I'd pointed out that she was probably upstairs and she should feel free to find her. Then when I went to close the door during morning meeting she was standing outside our room and I felt kind of awkward closing the door on her but she assured me that it was fine and that I should close it. For a while after I kept seeing her daughter peeking at the door and making motions (I assume to her through the door window). Finally, I just decided to ignore it because hey, we had learning to do and I had a schedule/routine to get through.

Imagine my surprise when about 10 minutes later the door opens and a host of parents come in with a cake and candles and everyone starts singing 'Happy Birthday" to me! It was precious! And the shocking thing to me, was that school had only started on Tuesday but by Thursday, they'd somehow managed to arrange this AND my kids had never said a word! It was very thoughtful and I was compelled to break away from our routine, figuring that it wouldn't hurt to stop so that we could all have cake and juice.

Later on at home, I got to uncover the couch that was filled with lots of gifts that my flatmate had received through her 9 years here and was willing and happy to pass on. I gladly selected a pair of plaid house slippers, a jar (for marbles for my students), a loofah and a bottle of hand sanitizer (all things that I'd wanted at some point during my first week here)!

A while later, I'd gotten a call from one of my colleagues who'd offered earlier during the week to take me out for coffee (well, tea since I don't drink coffee). I figured I'd be able to go and come back with enough time to still get some work done. On our way out she wanted to stop across the hall to see if the principal also wanted to come. I realized that I'd left my camera and went back to retrieve it, thinking it was kind of odd that when I returned my flatmate was peeking out of her door even though I was sure she'd already gone to bed early. So I headed across the hall to my principal's apartment and lo and behold, several of the teachers from school were sitting in her living room. I was all, "Hey, look _______'s here!" and then as I entered the room I saw 2 more teachers unsuccessfully trying to hide from my view by making themselves look smaller on the nearest chair and leaning against the wall. Then it hit me, all the shoes I'd seen in the foyer, all the food and treats on the table, the teachers yelling "Surprise!"-it was a surprise party for me! It was lovely getting to know them better and we played some really fun games before retiring for the night.
It was a wonderful birthday filled with lovely surprises and I'm happy to say that even though I imagined previously that I'd be quite upset to be oh-so-close to an age I didn't think I'd want to be, I'm quite happy to be almost 30 and thankful that today was a wonderful opportunity to look back on and think of the many blessings and kindnesses so richly bestowed on me my by my Savior.