this guy is 40 today. forty. i actually can't believe it. 17 years ago we had only known each other for a few weeks and i gave him a metal toy story bucket full of lollipops as a birthday gift. i am really hoping this years gift makes up for that... what a day it was to get it all done though!
we started early at 6:15am, out to drop off my outlander with the broken rear end off to the panel beaters and collect a replacement to drive for the next week or so. dum dum dummmmmm, a freaking kia cerato. look beggars can't be choosers and that thing's got some get up and go, but it was a terrible day to have to lose my car. i had ordered 40 gold, black and white balloons to pick up so doug could arrive home to them, but now had no way to pick them up.
lucky for me, my beautiful friend tara was on hand to collect them in her full size mum van, bless her and we shoved them all in there, which made me realise they wouldn't have fit in the outlander anyway, so even luckier! haha.
seriously, she has a mercedes benz valente and they took up the entire inside!
and just for good measure, here's me showing you how forty balloons looks like in real life. i honestly felt like i was at disneyland!
and they perfectly filled the hallway. huzzah!
anyway, here's the fun part. for doug's 40th present, i bought him a set of custom number plates for his ute. he always said when he got the car he wanted, he was going to get private plates with dsk 11. his initials and favourite number. so, on the downlow a few weeks ago, i got onto the department of transport website, found him the colour i knew he would like best (this has since been confirmed, he was very pleased with the colour choice) and nabbed the combo he was after. funnily enough, last weekend, he got on there himself and was trying to order the same ones and was very put out to see that someone already owned his combo. i don't know how any of us managed to keep a straight face as his mum was there too and knew i had ordered them. he finally managed to convince himself that he was happy with 011 because then "both sides had the same amount of characters". yeah okay g.
by some miracle, they were ready in time for his actual birthday, but i still had to go and collect them and get them onto his car... but you have to hand in the old ones to be able to collect them. here came the sneaky. i called in a favour from his boss, who removed them and left them by his car for me to pick up. all the way from ellenbrook to balcatta to collect them, then back to midland to get the new ones, back to balcatta - and guess who was right there sitting by his car. that was such a facepalm moment. his boss had sent him up past joondalup to do a job, but he finished early and arrived before i was back with the plates. i pull up, his mates like, "bro, isn't that your wife?" yes it was, holding his birthday present. there went that surprise, but he was still stoked... until he got a mouthful from the boss for being back too early hahah. he looooved them and was super stoked! plus he got a good laugh out of knowing that the jerk who stole his combo, was in fact himself. hahahahaha.
i still had some tricks up my sleeve though, each of the balloons we collected earlier had a photo from his life attached to the base. i had spent hours trawling through old photos at his mums house and on facebook over the past few weeks, saved them all to a folder and printed them to attach them to the balloons...
and make a big 40 on the wall in our hallway.
all set up and ready for dad to arrive home.
it was so fun. he arrived home from work, all the kids popped out and yelled happy birthday and then they all spent ages looking at the photos, him showing them people they knew and telling them about people they didn't. it was the best!
my old mate 40 year old husband. ❤
i am so beyond grateful for you and especially grateful to have been able to show you just a little today how much i love you - and the time and people before me, that made you who you are.
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