The Birthday Boy's Surprise

I planned for several weeks to surprise my son Jim in California with a birthday surprise.  I had mailed him two small gifts and told him not to open them until his birthday.  I knew this was safe and he would wait.  

I then went about trying to find a bakery that would deliver a birthday cake to the police station where he worked.  No bakery wanted to deliver anything smaller than a wedding cake and I thought he might not laugh if I had a wedding cake delivered to his job.  I tried Safeway on line but couldn’t get a cake ordered and was feeling really frustrated.  I then remembered Albertsons advertises for home delivery.  I logged on, set up an account, and placed my order, picked my time for delivery and felt pretty proud of myself.  One chocolate cake and one white cake would arrive between 10:00 AM and 11:30 AM on his birthday, June 5th to the police department.

Panic set in when the email confirmation showed the cake would be delivered in my name and I knew the police department would say, “No one here by that name,” and refuse it.  I put a note in front of my computer to call that morning and let the desk clerk know what I was doing and what to expect.

June 5th.  Delivery day.  I called the police department; they thought it was cute that Officer Jim’s mom was having cakes delivered to him.  Of course they probably figured they would get to share in his good fortune.  All was right with my plan, or so I thought.  Michelle the desk clerk called to say Jim had a schedule change and I needed to call him.  She couldn’t tell me the details but said I really needed to talk to him.

Jim didn’t answer his phone so I called his brother Michael and thought if he won’t answer the phone for mom maybe he will answer for a sibling.  Jim called me before Michael could call him.  He had just received a phone call from a friend at work to tell him there were two birthday cakes waiting for him.  He knew this had to be a mom surprise so he called me.  Turns out he had the day off due to extra training during the week and told his fellow officers to go ahead and enjoy the cake and try to save him a piece.

We laughed about the mix-up.  He had a wonderful evening with his adopted family the Rowe’s with homemade birthday cake and was going to have birthday dinner with his friend Heather, and open his presents from Larry and me when he got home.

So it seemed everything turned out okay in the end.  Well almost.  Michelle called about an hour later and said the cakes were still sitting there and she wasn’t letting anyone touch them.  Seems whoever Jim talked to at work and told to eat the cakes had forgotten to tell Michelle and she was protecting the cakes.  I told her to put the cakes in the break room and let them eat cake and enjoy Jim’s birthday.  She thanked me and we both wished each other a good day.

So I got the biggest surprise on Jim’s birthday and maybe the best gift because now the officers probably all love Jim’s mom for sending cake.

Happy 28th birthday Jim.  We love you.