For months I’d known that Lee was planning a birthday party for my 60th. But that was all I knew… the details were a carefully guarded surprise.

Lee went to the venue early. I was picked up by Marcel, on the left, who is a swimming buddy. She put me in the car where I donned a lavender blindfold complete with false eyelashes. We drove 20 minutes or so, and I was helped inside by Marcel and Dan, the partner of an ex-workmate (Neal in the background) of Lee’s (and a regular guest at our Orphans and Waifs Thanksgiving dinner).

The big reveal… we were at SnowPlanet, an indoor ski hill that we’d never been to before. Lee saw an ad for their fondue package, which is something I really like but seldom get because it’s perpetually out of fashion, and the whole thing mushroomed from there.

We had people from all the pastimes… work, swimming, pétanque, and some un-themed friends too.

It was great!! Lee put in a ton of effort and it all came off perfectly. She even sewed her own dress for the sparkly dress code. I got tons of presents from the very thoughtful to silly old guy gags, like an inflatable Zimmer frame. We had cheese fondue to start, then dinner, and chocolate fondue after. Magnifique! Nobody actually tried the skiing… but one of these days I will.

Thanks Honey! 😘😘😘

But that wasn’t the end of the story. The SnowPlanet party was the week before my actual birthday because on my actual birthday I was in Pittsburgh. So, I threw myself another bash.

I’ve been going to HL7 meetings for most of the last 25 years, usually 2-3 times a year, and gotten to know a lot of people in that time. And those friendships are intense like summer camp friendships… you work hard, but you then hang out and drink and talk about stuff, and you share this exclusive and insular thing.

Lots of people showed up. My first grad school professor Stan was there, still going strong. I owe him so much for deciding I could help him out on a paper I don’t even remember anymore. From that… all this.

In the picture above, there’s Carol giving the required funny (and it was very funny) speech. I hired her into her first job in the field and we worked together through thick and thin until I came to NZ. Now she’s the Chair of the entire international organization, and I’m so proud to know her. And so many others, including some random Dutch guys who heard there was beer to be had. They were of course excellent party guests, and they gave me that orange shirt (promotional material for next May’s meeting in Rotterdam).

So, 60 got off to a great start. Thanks everyone for helping me forget the aches and pains and all the outside world stuff.