I called her to inform her that I had reached the play-school and picked the children up that Friday. "Meet you in five minutes at block 4? I'm going to pick something up," she suggested. I had no reason to say 'no' to her request, and dutifully picked her up five minutes later. Wait. She had a box in a plastic bag. One that resembled a box of a cake. Oh yes, how can I be so muddle-headed to forget that my thirty-third birthday was the next week?
I did not ask her about the box and continued on our journey home. She revealed that we had to be home soon and change the children out of their uniforms, so that we could go to Jurong Point for dinner with the children's uncle and aunt - Eddie and Hui Jun. It is all shaping up now - they have not forgotten my birthday, whilst I have totally disregarded its existence! They had 'conspired' about it, behind my back too! Ha!
We took a leisurely walk with the children and my mother to our destination. It isn't often we walk as a little family for a little distance along the pathways, you see, much less to Jurong Point, which I avoid like the plague due to its massive crowd. The walk was nice, with our three gems mostly obedient.
Eddie and Hui Jun were a little late as they were caught with some last minute work. We queued up outside Swensens' first and they arrived soon after. It was nice to have the company of your loved ones over dinner, which I seldom get these days with them on weekdays.
When we were done with our main courses, I was expecting to go. Little did I realise that they had a little surprise planned - they ordered an ice-cream for me and another one for the children, getting a waiter from the restaurant to stick a lit candle on my ice-cream and singing a birthday song for me. Interestingly enough, mine was the fourth birthday song we heard in the matter of a couple of hours there as three other groups had someone celebrate their birthdays there too! Seems like Swensens is the choice for birthday celebrations these days!
That had to be all. We could retire to bed now, I thought. How wrong was I! Eddie asked nonchalantly if I drove and offered to send us back in his car when I revealed that I hadn't. Oh well, how could we turn down the ride? He dropped us at the 'Loading / Unloading' bay of our block. He got out of the car. I was puzzled. It was then that I remembered the birthday cake Yen had brought home!
So Part Two of this 'operation' was underway. Yen brought the cake out and lit the candles. They sang me the birthday song and I had to complete the process by blowing out the candles, cutting the cake and eatting the cake. These are things that our two elder children were familiar with after so long in play-school, and something Kayleen will see again soon when we celebrate her birthday in a couple of weeks.
It was a nice surprise, successfully planned and executed, masterminded by my lovely wife. A nice moment to savour. =)
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