ROBERT'S SURVIVAL OF HIS FIRST FIFTY YEARS

Robert turned the big “5 – 0” this year. No one was as surprised as he was to actually make it to this milestone. He told me when we were married that he would not live past 30. This was probably one of the factors that helped me decide to marry him. He was 23 at the time, so I figured I would only have to put up with him for a maximum of seven years. The little trickster.

On the first weekend in May, I rented the Wink Community Center and invited some of our close friends and family. His brother Mark smoked some brisket and BBQ some chicken. Everyone else brought a side dish.

Now anyone who knows Robert should understand how HARD it is to keep a secret from him. He is so nosey, I mean observant, that it was nearly impossible to pull this off. We scheduled the party for 3:00 in the afternoon because Robert had to work on this Saturday. He got off work early and decided to drive around town to see what was going instead of heading for home like he should have done. So of course he spoiled his own surprise.

But, I had an even better surprise waiting for him. Corey had spent the spring semester in Spain through a Texas Tech program, and had been abroad since January. She was not scheduled to come home until the middle May. We flew her in early. Jacob & Laura picked her up in Dallas earlier in the week, and drove her down to Wink for the weekend. He was so happy to see her that he almost cried.

He told me a week before that all he really wanted for his birthday was for Corey to be back home safe and sound. Well, what do you know? I finally got him a present he actually wanted!!!