A Birthday Surprise

My mother is a funny woman. You really can't predict how exactly she's going to react to any given situation. In college when I got a 100% on my Accounting 100 final she replied simply, "That's nice." Nice?! That's all I get? That's nice?!? When I told her I was thinking of moving to Seattle from Boston she about jumped through the phone line to kiss me she was so excited. When I told her I was moving from Seattle to Portland she again underwhelmed me with her enthusiasm. I called her on it. Why was she so excited about me moving to Seattle but not Portland. She gave me some lame excuse about how it's harder for her to get excited about things as she gets older. But, she explained, it's also a lot harder to get her really upset. Life is a trade off, I guess.

So this year, for my mother's birthday, we as her children and husband, decided to get her a new flat screen TV. She's been absolutely pining for one for years but can't seem to justify the expense when she's got a perfectly good TV already. She gave up asking her children for one and started asking instead for donations to her TV fund. She figured that if she saved for a year she'd have enough to buy one for herself for Christmas.

About a month before her birthday, we started plotting out the purchase. Matt and I would be the organizers, Josh would install, and Father would make the final decision on the purchase (since it would it be his TV too). We had it all planned out - all except my mother's reaction. Would she give another lame, "That's nice," or would she really be excited?

On the morning of her birthday one of her best friend's and I took her out to run some errands and take her to lunch while my dad and brother Josh did the installation. It was all ready and time to come home. My stomach was all a-twitter with anticipation. On the way she commented that birthdays just weren't exciting for her anymore. I could hardly contain myself. We got home, with me jetting into the living room to get into position with my camera at the ready. She finally came in and screamed as soon as she saw what we had done. The cheesy grin, the look of pure joy and the random shouts of "I love my TV" were everything we as her family could ask for. It was the perfect response.