50th Birthday Weekend Part Two

If you are just catching up with my blog make sure you read Part One first so that all of this will be in perspective and correct chronological order.

Part Two

The first potential spanner in the works came when Tiger cancelled the flights that several of the WA contingent were due to fly on! The joys of cheap fares and discount airlines! but there were further problems to come of a more earth-shaking nature. Having managed to secure replacement flights on other airlines, these subsequent flights were threatened by the ash cloud that resulted from the volcanic eruption in Chile!

Cancellations and delays made the already tricky arrival schedule of the birthday guests a changing and uncertain affair. Despite these hiccups everyone ended up making it.

The following table summarises the comings and goings as I remember them. Unfortunately I’ve lost the sheet of paper that had all the travel and accommodation plans on it so this won’t be as accurate as I’d like.

Guest	Original Arrival	Actual Arrival	Scheduled Departure	Actual Departure
Mum	6 weeks early	On time	24/6	23/6
Dad	Wed	Thurs	23/6	23/6
Vicki	Wed	Thurs	23/6	23/6
Alan	Fri AM	Fri AM	Mon PM	Mon PM
Zach	Sat AM	Sat AM	Mon PM	Wed AM
Jordan	Sat AM	Sat AM	Sun PM	Sun PM
Alex	Tue	Tue	Wed	Wed
Collo	Fri PM	Fri PM	Sun PM	Sun PM
Steve	Fri PM	Fri PM	Sun PM	Sun PM
Birchy	Fri AM	Fri AM	Mon AM	Mon PM
Chris	Fri PM	Fri PM	Mon AM	Tue AM
Joshua & Eleanor	Fri AM	Fri AM	Mon PM	Mon PM
Sally Warren & Callum	Mon PM	Mon PM	Wed PM	Wed PM
Carolyn	Allan
Sophie	Lorna
Paul
Chris & Carol

Originally Sophie (Favourite Daughter) said she would cook dinner for us on  Friday night, which would be a treat as she is an excellent cook, but there was a mysterious change of plan and instead she and Mum took me out for lunch on Friday.

(Carolyn was busy doing a Zumba instructor’s course that day which is a whole other story, and she couldn’t join us for lunch.) I figured something was afoot but had no idea what.

When I walked into the restaurant I got perhaps the biggest surprise of my life, all 50 years of it! Sitting at a table was someone I hadn’t seen in nearly 20 years. Joshua Brinen. I couldn’t believe my eyes! Not just because it was so long since I’d seen him but because of where he had come from to be there: the USA!!!

Further explanation is required.

Back in 1982 when I was 20 I travelled overseas and was away for a couple of years, living in London most of the time. In the northern Summers of 1983 and 1984 I went to America and worked as a camp counsellor on a Summer camp in upstate New York. It was at Camp Schodack that I met Joshua who was 12 years old. He was in my bunk (group) for the Summer and we became friends. The whole camp experience was wonderful and after it finished I stayed with Joshua and his family for a couple of days. The following year I was Josh’s counsellor again and a second memorable Summer ensued although not without mishap.

One day Joshua fell off a horse and broke a bone in his shoulder. I took him to the hospital and stayed with him for the next four hours as we waited for treatment. My care and concern for him while he was badly hurt had a much greater impact on him than I realised because he attributes this incident as the reason I became his “hero”, and ultimately why 27 years later he flew half way around the world to come to my 50^th birthday! Not only did he come from America but he also brought his 5 year old daughter Eleanor with him, all for four days, and all to honour me and celebrate my birthday.

The backdrop to the backdrop is that over the last dozen years or so my Mum has travelled to the USA and stayed with Joshua and his family on three different occasions. Unbeknownst to me they had been plotting for the last two years to pull off this surprise and boy oh boy, they got me an absolute beauty! I could hardly speak as we ate lunch I was so stunned to see him, and to realise that he had come so far just for me.

Having these special surprise international guests added a whole new dimension to the weekend.

By Saturday morning everyone had arrived, the food was being prepared and the BBQs were hard at work. At this point I need to mention Chris and Carol, our next door neighbours. A few days before the weekend when I was working out where everyone would sleep I realised that it would be handy to have a couple of extra mattresses. When I went next door to ask Chris and Carol whether they had any they could loan us they countered by saying, “We’ve got three spare bedrooms, how would people like to stay here?”

Their generous offer was the perfect solution to our accommodation needs, providing us with an extra two queen size and two single beds in three separate rooms for the weekend. They even had a side door, accessible via the garage so that people could come and go without disturbing them. This proved very handy as we had a couple of pretty late nights.

On Saturday morning Chris also offered us the use of his BBQ and in fact ended up cooking half of the meat for us too. In light of their generosity and hospitality the least I could do was invite them to join us for lunch and they said later they had really enjoyed it and that it had been very memorable.

 Very old family friends Allan and Lorna joined us for lunch too so we had quite a big group squeezed onto the back verandah come lunchtime.

The food was great and was followed by a few gifts and presentations.

A couple of the boys gave me Geelong items. (How did they know?) Chris blew me away by giving me an artist’s easel, something I’ve long wanted. Vicki had found some very cool Scrabble letter canvasses and personalised them with her birthday message. Pop gave me a Blu-Ray DVD player! And Mum presented me with the end results of many months of work, the afore-mentioned birthday book. (Thank you to any of my readers who contributed to the book, it is very special and affirming.)

There was another surprise: Vicki played a video message on her laptop recorded by my great mate Paul in San Diego. He recounted how we had met in Cairns in our early 20s and how our lives have inter-twined through a series of visits and adventures over the proceeding 30 years. Our youngest son Paul is named after him. By the time his message finished I was in tears.

Imagine that? And there were a few more before the day was done.

Because of the unique and eclectic nature of the group who were gathered, I took the opportunity to introduce everyone and describe the background and circumstances of my relationship with each of them. It gave me a chance to reminisce, tell some stories, acknowledge people for the part they have played in my life and thank them for being there. It went on for a while and I shed more tears but no-one seemed to mind. Now that I’m half a century old perhaps people are more indulgent of me! It seemed a good and appropriate way to formalise the celebration.

The last act was provided by Alex who pulled out a pink guitar and sang a song for me, something he has done at many of the special events and significant moments of my life over the last 30 years since we met at Thornlie Church of Christ. Al has been a constant in our lives, our kids have grown up with him as a special presence and in turn we have offered him love and hospitality whenever we could. His gift of music has provided a soundtrack throughout our friendship.

The next thing on the agenda was a little bit left-field: a Skype hook-up to stage the mid-season draft of the CFFL!! A frantic 45 minutes of footy based banter, aborted trade deals and semi-informed selections occurring on either side of the country with four of us crowded around the computer in my study and a room full of mates/coaches gathered in the hills of Perth.

Time was very pressing due to the fact that we needed to get going to the footy in Melbourne by 4.30pm.

I had hired a Coaster bus from work for the weekend and we all piled aboard that and headed up the Princes Freeway on our way to the MCG. I even managed to get Jordy to come with us. It is something of an anomaly in the Holt Press family but Jordy doesn’t like football so the fact that he came in my honour was pretty cool.

The 14 of us found seats near the wing in the Olympic stand of the MCG and were joined by Cameron and his mate Dave and kids. It was the first game of Aussie Rules footy Joshua and Eleanor had ever been to so some explanations were required. I don’t remember many of the specifics and details of the game apart from the important fact that the Cats won, another birthday present. I love going to the footy but it was even more fun than usual to have a group of friends and family there to share the experience. Even St Steve and Chris, the only St Kilda fans seemed to enjoy the night.

After the game we piled back into the bus and headed home to Ocean Grove, dropping Mum, Dad and Vicki off in Geelong along the way as, with all beds full at Ocean Grove, they stayed the night at Allan and Lorna’s.

A midnight feast of leftover BBQ food, a bit more footy talk and then to bed by about 1.30 concluded a great day.

On Sunday we split into two groups. Carolyn took Paul to his soccer game and a few family members went to watch him play, or tried to! They got a bit lost in Lara and only made it for the last 15 minutes of the game.

The rest of us headed back to the MCG and another footy game, between Melbourne and Fremantle. Sadly the Dockers decided not to show up and were thrashed by the Demons. After the game we dropped Steve Grant and Jordan off so that they could catch their flights home to Perth. It was sad to say goodbye and I thanked them profusely for coming.

Home again to Ocean Grove and a hilarious game of Balderdash to conclude the evening.

Early Monday morning I took Birchy to Avalon airport but the volcanic ash cloud meant his flight was cancelled so he joined us for lunch with Joshua and Eleanor in Geelong.  He flew out later that afternoon.

All good things come to an end and I had to go back to work after lunch!!

Mum took Joshua for a drive down the Great Ocean Road in the afternoon and he and Eleanor flew home to America early Tuesday morning. Their presence for the weekend was like an extra layer of special icing on what was already a very sweet birthday cake.

Alan flew home that night. Chris left on Tuesday morning although her flight too was cancelled and she spent another night in Melbourne with family.

Zachariah was supposed to fly home Monday night but managed to miss his flight. The subsequent flight was cancelled so he ended up spending two extra nights with us, which was fine by me. Thankfully he has an understanding boss.

My actual birthday was Tuesday and I had arranged a shift swap so that I could finish earlier and we could go out for dinner that night. By then things were supposed to be winding down! So I thought!

Mum, Dad, Vicki, Carolyn, Sophie, Paul Alex and I walked into a lovely restaurant in Barwon Heads and I got another stunning surprise! Sitting at the table was my dear friend Sally and her husband Warren with their son Callum!

I was gob-smacked and blown away all over again! Sally had been one of the people who had told me she couldn’t make it and enjoyed telling me how proud she was of herself for fooling me because of the disappointment she sensed in my voice at the time! My scheming mother had been in on this secret too and was glowing with satisfaction at yet another successful undercover plot! It was fantastic to see them and have them share in my now very very special birthday!

Sally and I met at a creative writing and drama camp in 1979 when we were both in year 12 at high school. We became great friends and have many many special memories of adventures and good times shared together. I am pleased that Paul and Callum get along really well and I hope they may continue the family friendship into a second generation.

I had been blind-sided again but was thoroughly delighted regardless of my naiveté. We all had a beautiful meal which finally consummated my birthday.

I told everyone over the weekend that it was far and away the best birthday I’ve ever had. It was certainly the most memorable, not to mention the most elongated!

Finally, let me again say a huge thank you to everyone who was a part of it, either in person or via my birthday book, and thank you for your love and friendship over some or all of the last 50 years.

Love Marcus

PS Sorry if I got any details wrong, my memories were a little hazy on a few things. I blame my age!