Last month my friends threw a surprise party celebration for our friend Maggie, who was turning 40 that very day. It was at our friend Cheryl's beautiful house on Cape Cod. I hadn't been part of a surprise party in a long time, and it was so fun! Especially because Maggie was indeed surprised! She has a great husband who helped coordinate and plan it all out. I wasn't very involved with the planning, but I did show up on time, contributed to a gift, and inflated and strung up the "Happy Birthday" balloons in the second picture below. 😁
We went for a chilly but pleasant seaside trail walk that afternoon.
We walked out to that "knob" overlooking the sea.
On the knob...
In the late afternoon, some more friends arrived who weren't able to be there for the full day. We went out to eat at a restaurant down the street from Cheryl's house that had amazing views of the ocean, especially at sunset. 😍
Look at how the sunset's glow reflects off the sand. Beautiful!
Sunset waning...
At dinner, the second part of Maggie's surprise happened. Her twin sister, Rachel, had flown in from Idaho and Maggie's husband dropped her off during dinner. It made Maggie cry—it was a very sweet surprise! And I'm so glad that I didn't give it away—there were a few times that day when I almost said, "Maggie, I'm excited to meet your sister!" 😶 (Her sister had also gone through a recent divorce, so there was already some kinship there between us.)
We played some fun games that evening. These women really know how to plan a great party!
Jenny made a fantastically delicious ice cream cake. And look how festive the candles are!
There's me on the side, snapping the above picture!
We ended the evening playing the absolutely hilarious game of Telestrations. It had an 80s theme (since that's the decade when Maggie and Rachel were born and grew up). It was so funny. It was clear to see that some of us were terrible drawers (me being one of them 😆).
Most of the women stayed overnight, but a few of us (myself included) had to leave to go home that night. It was a super fun birthday celebration, and a very special one for Maggie and Rachel (who is now my newest friend—we had a good conversation about being newly single and are now Facebook friends). I'm so thankful for good friends in my life, old and new. They are a true blessing!
