Memorial Day was Noah’s 30th birthday. Every time I would ask him what he wanted to do, he would tell me, “nothing”. That’s a bit boring for a milestone birthday. It works out nicely that friends of ours host an annual Memorial Day BBQ at their house that we always attend. So this year, I was in cahoots with them to add in a surprise birthday party element for Noah. I even arranged for a pastry chef friend to make a cake (since I obviously could not make one undetected) and had a friend lined up to get the cake and take it to the party. Well, the day before the party that friend’s family all came down with strept and were no longer going to be able to go to the BBQ, so Joe, Noah’s brother, got some frantic texts from me to see if he could pick up the cake. Thankfully he was able and the surprise went off without a hitch. I had meant to take a camera to the party, but the surprise was yelled while I was still unloading Logan’s diaper bag and Noah had already made it outside. *sigh*.

Instead of bringing traditional gifts for Noah, I suggested people give him 30 random items (an idea Gretna gave to me). He ended up with:

•  30 rocks
• 30 Q-tips
• 30 songs (iTunes gift cards)
• $30 in gift cards to Coldstone and AMC
• 30 blueberries
• 30 pine cones
• 30 sips of beer
• 30 bottles of water – each with a This Day in History Fact

Technically there are 31 bottles, and they are from Joe. I like the effort that he went into with the gift. So, here are news headlines from Noah’s last 30 years on Noah’s birthday:

1982 – “The Escape Artist” movie was released
1983 – Flashdance theme song “What A Feeling” hits #1 on the pop charts
1984 – USSR tested nuclear bomb
1985 – David Jacobsen is taken hostage in Lebanon
1986 – Pepsi stock splits
1987 – Mathais Rust lands his airplane in Red Square
1988 – Genie Francis marries Jonathan Frakes
1989 – Emerson Fittipaldi wins the Indianapolis 50
1990 – Dave Thomas comedy show debuts on CBS
1991 – Ted Turner is named the Man of the Year by Time Magazine
1992 – Amanda Goad wins the 65th National Spelling Bee by spelling “lyceum”
1993 – Polish government of Suchocka falls
1994 – Cafe American airs last show
1995 – Earthquake in Russia kills 2000 people
1996 – President Clinton’s pals are committed of fraud
1997 – 600 Taliban troops are killed
1998 – Comedian Phil Hartman is killed by his wife
1999 – Boring…
2000 – Small earthquake in the Sierra Nevadas
2001 – NATO ratifies treaty with Russia
2002 – Cosmonaut Oleg Makarov dies
2003 – OSHA announces ergonomic guidelines
2004 – Donald Voight is accused of fraud
2005 – Boring…
2006 – The winning lottery numbers were: 5-11-16-27-43
2007 – Hubble sends pictures back to NASA
2008 – Red Wings play Penguins in game 3…whatever!
2009 – National Museum of Natural History turns 100
2010 – BP oil spill is confirmed as the worst in US history
2011 – Jewish Holiday. Shabbat.
2012 – Joe put: Make your own history. Boring…so I looked one up: Asteroid KP24 nearly misses earth by 32,000 miles

Happy 30th birthday, Noah! Glad you enjoyed your surprise party (and were genuinely surprised)! 😀