Making Birthdays Special

     For anyone who doesn't know me, I like to make birthdays special.  I consider it one of my gifts.  I have always enjoyed putting homemade birthday signs all over the house, notes inside vehicles, baking the birthday cake, buying cards, and anything else I can think of to make a person feel special on THEIR birthday.

     Last Friday, November 5th, my coworker Heather, was turning 30.  She shared with me that she was a little bummed about the big  3 0.  I decided to take it upon myself to make her 30th birthday a good one.

     I made her a cake, bought her a card, and then purchased two bundles of carnations.  There were about 40 carnations in all.  What was my plan?  I was going to put the carnations in a bucket in the backseat of my car and find 30 people to stop by the office, get a flower from my car and bring it into Heather!

     I get to work an hour before her, so I had plenty of time to make my arrangements.  I called her husband, her mom and dad, the local police department, the local light and power workers, salesmen that come in on Fridays, all the coworkers, her mechanic that works in Lowell, and anyone else I could think of that would like to be in on the fun.

     Five minutes after Heather got here, two men came in with carnations.  Then a few minutes later, two more men came in.  She said "How do they know it is my birthday?"  I just smiled.  By the time the UPS man came in with a carnation, Heather was onto me. 

     The mailman, who seems quiet by nature, walked in belting out "Happy Birthday" at the top of his lungs!  One of the guys that works here handed her a carnation and said "We are playing bachelor today.  At the end of the day you must pick your favorite."  Oh, so many smiles...

     By 1:00, twenty men had been in and given her carnations!  It was SO fun!  Can you believe it?  Twenty men walking in and handing her a carnation.  Now, that is FUN!  All of the men know Heather and they were so happy to be in on it.  The Chief of Police even came in!  At about 2:00 her husband drove out from Grand Rapids to surprise her and at 3:00 her mom and four of her siblings had driven to Lowell from Sparta to also surprise her.  Heather's dad also stopped by on his way back from Battle Creek.  Even her stepdaughter that I facebook messaged came by with two of her friends.   

     At the end of the day, 39 people had been in to give Heather a birthday flower.  Needless to say, Heather was having a HAPPY birthday!  It was a success!  Heather's birthday went from the dreaded birthday, to a very happy, memorable birthday.

     Making other people feel special makes the soul feel good (at least it does for me).