Surprise! Clues Candles Minivans Cakes Grandkids and Hi Tech Loos
In truth, it’s not all that hard as long as suspicion is unaroused. For example, several years ago in Europe:
“Nazy!” I exclaimed on a call from London. “I just got an email from United Airlines saying that Melika can check in for her flight to New York. A flight, that by the way, was booked with my frequent flyer miles. What is going on?”
“Remember that you gave her those miles?” Nazy claimed.
“Really?” I replied. “I’m sending an email to Melika to get to the bottom of this.” I thought.
Melika’s return email claimed that she was going to a wedding, Amber’s wedding, in New York. She thanked me (“again”, she claimed) for the miles.
“Amber?” I thought. “Amber? A surfer is getting married in New York?”
And then, on the way home, I thought: “Who gets married on a Tuesday? I’m going to change the password on my Frequent Flyer account.”
New York was the first leg of Melika’s trip to Zurich where she’d be part of a surprise party for me. Darius and Mitra were also on the way. The real nefariousness never even occurred to me.
“And that, Dan,” Nazy concludes, “Is why you are not on Mueller’s team of investigators.”
“Hrmph.” I replied. “Mueller doesn’t need genius to find malfeasance, obstruction and financial shenanigans.” I thought.
Last weekend, Nazy knew that we were flying to Napa for a pre-birthday wine tasting tour. She didn’t know that about the extended family that would amplify the celebration.
Our flight to San Francisco was ‘on-time-ish’. The engines and we moved to a taxiway exactly as scheduled. Then we waited (‘ground hold&rsquo
and waited. Arrow has inherited my disdain for airplanes that do not move. When we (finally) arrived in SFO, our arrival gate was occupied. Arrow, like me, was ready to deplane. And, he was not silently ready.A lot of baggage and supporting equipment is necessary when traveling with small children. Creativity is also needed (I took Tiger on an escalator adventure 8 times while we were waiting.)
Then: we received an urgent text while Melika was filling out the rental forms…
Darius forgot his backpack. Can you get it at Enterprise Car Rental Lost and Found?
“How are we supposed to do that?” I thought as I showed the message to Melika.
“Mom ‘knows’ that backpack”, Melika whispered. “Mom was there when we bought it.”
While Melika and Nazy arranged the car, I chased Tiger through the facility and Tom ‘went to the bathroom’ which just happened to be next to the Enterprise Counter. He collected the backpack and threw it on the giant stroller under a large coat. Then we all walked out to the…
“… Minivan?” I thought.
“See how easy it is to put the children into the car seats,” Tom enthused. “It’s a lot easier than an SUV.”
“I’m not getting a minivan,” I replied.
“Nobody has to crawl across barriers or over luggage.” Tom noted as he hid Darius’ backpack.
“Hmm,” I mumbled. “I’ll crawl over hot coals before I’ll get a minivan,” I thought.
The Bay Area is woefully mal-designed for people arriving at SFO, but who are heading to Napa. The only route is through the city. And we did it the hard way — at rush hour.
“Why do they call it rush hour?” I thought, noticing that we certainly were not rushing.
Many text messages were exchanged as we closed in on the venue — a delightful BnB that Melika found. We told Nazy that we were going to make a quick stop to change Arrow’s diaper and drop off some luggage. Then, when she walked into the home — SURPRISE!
Mitra was there and so was Darius, Christiane and the Lovely Leandra (who Nazy hadn’t expected to see until the end of May). My brother, his wife and all of my sister’s were there, as was Brian, Sandi’s husband. Nazy’s brother and sister there, as were cousins form California, Montreal, Jacksonville and San Diego. Nazy was completely surprised and pleased.
People told stories about Nazy:
Shahriar, her brother, reminded her of the time he had broken one of their Dad’s antique lamps. Nazy had promised to keep this news secret and, when her Dad came home from work, she ran to him and said: “Shahriar did not break your lamp.”
Shahrzad, her sister, said that when bullies had picked on her at school, Nazy had taken care of the problem. I believe that fisticuffs were involved in the resolution. Nazy was the younger sister.
Marjorie, my sister, wrote a Riff (The Ten Naz Commandments) based on the Ten Dual Commandments from Hamilton.
I noted that Nazy was our CFO (Chief Family Officer) as well as CHO (Chief Hat Officer). I also reminisced about …
… things I learned after I met Nazy. For example, I discovered that some green things were edible. I had always thought that was a sign or mold or decay.
A Mexican feast was followed by a giant birthday cake.
That night, the immediate family Dan & Nazy, Melika, Tom, Arrow and Tiger, Mitra, Darius, Christiane and the Lovely Leandra stayed at the BnB. Nazy and I ascended a spiral staircase to the master bedroom with..
“Wow!” I thought — startled. When I opened the bathroom door, the toilet lid silently lifted and the toilet began flashing. It was reminiscent of the landing lights on SFO’s runway 28R. The situation called for me to take a seat. A seat, that by the way, was heated. I reviewed the control panel (“Give me everything you can Scotty!”, I thought.) as I wondered whether I was user one or user two.
I saw a joystick and called to Nazy: “Where should I target the bidet?” She didn’t answer because she was engrossed in the instruction manual — volume 1 (Entitled a ‘Brief Introduction’, page 87.).
“What will happen if I try to leave?” I shouted as I wondered whether the toilet would even allow me to depart. Nazy, was trying to wrap her brain around the difference between button A and Lever B. She ignored me.
“Preparing to disengage,” I shouted before running for my life.
The other bedrooms featured more standard features — although Mitra’s, the Yurt, which she shared with Tiger, was a little rustic.
It was a great day — so much fun to see everyone and especially to see our youngest (and only) granddaughter. Leandra, now about 10 months old, had grown a lot in Lebanon. Arrow, who was used to being the youngest, was clearly not amused by the “intruder”.
“I think that we need to begin preparing him for the new arrival,” I told Melika.
“Yes. And I think we’ll need another car seat — and a minivan,” Melika replied.
“I am not getting a minivan,” I thought.
“I heard you’re getting a minivan,” my brother David interjected.
The next morning everyone convened at the house before embarking on a Wine TastingTour of Napa.
“It wasn’t easy to find three winery’s that could accept 25 people and three babies,” Melika explained as we boarded our own private bus.
It was a beautiful day and a wonderful drive through Napa to our first stop — the Flora Springs Winery in Napa.
We had a talented and knowledgeable guide who touted his Trilogy wine. Except…
“… we do small and exclusive runs,” He explained. “But one of our customers went bankrupt and had to dump his wine. It surfaced at Costco…”
“The Horror!” I thought.
“ … in the discount rack. We’ll never make that mistake again.”
Melika and Tom bought a couple of bottles of Trilogy. However, they forgot to pack them in their suitcases and had to forfeit them at the airport security checkpoint.
“Those bottles will show up in a TSA agent’s garage sale,” I thought.
We toured the wine caves, learned the difference between American Oak (from Missouri) and French Oak (from France). Truthfully, however, I doubt that I could taste the difference.
Tom, Arrow, Tiger and Mitra
at Flora Villa Winery
This special surprise birthday was too eventful for a single issue of The Weekly Letter. Accordingly, we’ll have more in the next issue. In the interim, some more photos from Nazy’s birthday can be seen here.
For last week's letter, click here
The Birthday Girl
with Mitra and Shahrzad