I did something kind of terrible. It was my Dad's birthday yesterday. And lets just say, this man is the worlds greatest. He works hard, loves us all, and will make time for anyone who needs it. He can basically fix anything, and he even fixed a popped balloon for me as a little girl. He is 51 years old, and still doing everything he loves. If you need a best friend, this is your guy. Love ya dad.
But I gave him the worlds worst birthday present. I have to start this story with another story. When I was around four or five years old, I had to give a talk in my primary class. It was on mothers day, and I had the entire thing memorized and ready to go. My mom would hold up pictures and I would recite a mothers day poem. Except for my older brother John got this great idea. He told me it would be really funny if I said, "HUBBA BUBBA ROOT BEER BELLY" really loud into the microphone instead of doing my talk. And for some reason, I thought that was the best idea ever. So a sweet, curly haired four year old girl gets up to the mic, takes a deep breath, and says the hubba bubba recitation as many times as she could. My mom yanked me down from that pulpit by the ears and got after me. Then she put me back on and, to my ever lasting shame, I hubba bubba-d again. John and his friends were cracking up. I again, got yanked down and was told I was dead meat if I didn't give this talk. So I got up one more time and got on with it. And I did very well. But this just demonstrates the strange power that John has over me. He gets me to do these types of things that are funny to him, but not to mom and dad.
Ok, back to the party. John whispered in my ear that I should go print off an ultrasound and give it to dad for his birthday. The classic pregnancy prank. Initially, I thought it was really funny. So I snuck into the computer room and found a little blob online and printer her off. Then, after all the presents had been given, I told my dad that I had one more and that Eric and I had been working on it for almost a year. He opened the envelope and his eyes got huge. Then he flipped the fake ultra sound around and everyone EXPLODED. I didn't even have time to say APRIL FOOLS. My mom pulled me up off the couch and was hugging me and jumping up and down. During this hug, John and I locked eyes. I made the face of "Oh, this is the worst. The absolute worst." and he made the face of "This is the absolute best." Then I backed away and shook my head. That's when my mom realized this was all a joke, and started slapping me across the back. "IT WAS JOHN! JOHN!" I yelled out. Then, John deservedly got a few slaps of his own. Jake looked very disappointed, and I felt like I betrayed my own family. And then I realized that when I really am pregnant, I had ruined the moment of excitement. Instead of everyone jumping up and being excited, their first reaction will be "......really?? Is it for reals this time??" Dang it. and dang that brother of mine for always getting me to do the dirty work.
