Today was the borthday of at least three people that I know. In order of how long I’ve known them, there was Margie Revill, the mother of my best friend Jason Revill; Britt Jensen, one of my siter Erin Dotsey’s best friends; and Matt Davis, whom I know through church.
I got an e-vite a few weeks ago to Matt’s birthday party, which was to be a surprise party thrown by his wife, Melissa (who is very pregnant!). I haven’t been to their house since they day I helped them move in there, which was coincidentally the day Amanda and I got Harvey, but I found it easily enough. It’s in Leland and we expected it to take us about half an hour to get there, but it really only took about half that time.
Anyhoo, Melissa had taken Matt and a number of other people out to eat while a few other people met at the house and got things ready. Melissa stalled and the people who were out with them met back up at the house. We all his and turned the lights out, but the big surprise came from Kevin Millard, a friend of Matt and Melissa’s and a photographer I’d heard much about. Kevin thought it would be a good idea to find a Speedo of Matt’s and put it on, waiting for Matt to come home. So we all his while Kevin sat on the couch in the living room with candles lit. Our cue to pop out and yell surprise was to be the lights coming on and whatever Matt’s reaction was.
It was pretty funny. Matt later said that one thought that crossed through his mind was that Melissa had hired a prostitute and how really weird a thing that was for her to do.
Anyway, we had a good time at the party. We met a number of new people and I ended up doing a little business networking to boot. Ironically, Matt had given Kevin my contact info to discuss search engine optimization because we’d done such an excellent job with his and Melissa’s business, Lifestage Videography. I think we’re going to get together on Monday to talk about it.
On the way home I called Nick Warkentien. He and Amy are on their way to Michigan to visit their families and they have a sixteen hour drive ahead of them. Nick didn’t answer, later telling me that he was on the phone with his mom, so I left him a message saying I was calling to laugh at him since they had such a long drive ahead of them. Amy had done TILT, a function for the kids at Port City Community Church, and they hadn’t been able to leave until about 9:30.
Nick called me back after we got home (and Amanda had already gone to bed) and we chatted for a few minutes. We discussed how tomorrow, after I’d slept for the night, gotten up and ridden to Durham, they’d still be driving. And a little later, while I’m going to be tailgating outside of Wallace Wade Stadium, getting ready to watch the Blue Devils beat up the Wolfpack, they’ll still be driving. When he called they were still about half an hour on this side of Raleigh.
I’m looking forward to the game tomorrow. I’ll be wearing my gray Duke t-shirt, my fitted Duke hat and possibly I’ll take my Duke sweatshirt in case it gets chilly. Amanda’s grandparents, Peggy and Earl Lemons, will be coming to town so Peggy can take Amanda shopping for new clothes. Bras, specifically, I think. Amanda’s boobs are getting bigger. I’d thank Pistachio for that, but I can’t do anything with them right now anyway.
Michael Mercer, Amanda’s brother, called while we were at the party and asked if I wanted to go surfing tomorrow, but I told him that not only would I be in Durham watching Duke and State, but I didn’t have a wetsuit yet anyway.
Speaking of that, Surf City called today to make sure they were ordering the right wetsuit for me. I asked if there were any that came with some color and they said they could order one with blue, red, green or yellow on it. I asked what color blue and they said royal, so that, followed by red, was my first choice. Green and blue are actually my favorite colors, but I think the red on the black would look really cool. Then again, yellow would be cool too. They all would, actually.
Anyway, when I told Michael he said he wished he could have gotten one with color and, without me mentioning the colors, said he’d have liked one with yellow. I like the fact that what I’m getting is different from his, just because it distinguishes them and doesn’t make it look like I copied him so much. What can I say? For the price, quality and features he picked the best model wetsuit.
Zach Dotsey