They got me!

It turns out, the best time to truly surprise me with a party in my honor is when I’m busy prepping for a book launch party the next morning and think I’m going to a surprise birthday party in honor of the woman who ended up planning the surprise party for me.

On her actual birthday.

So, this story starts with Taylor, who leads the youth at our church with calm humor and a steady commitment to her faith (and theirs). It was an honor to spend part of June with her on a mission trip. Somehow, Taylor and I are also distantly related, at least in as much as we both share relatives named Gochenour, and that name is not exactly fruit on every family tree.

After we returned from the trip this past summer, Taylor’s equally nifty sister Tara popped up on my Facebook as someone I might know, and because I do know her and she does know me, we became Facebook friends far later than we should have.

In September, I noticed I had a Facebook Messenger invitation from Tara. It was for Taylor’s 30th birthday on Dec. 8th, and it was to be a surprise. How fun, I thought! And kudos to Tara for being really on top of the whole party thing four months in advance.

“Sorry,” I messaged Tara, “but is this Friday the 6th or Sunday the 8th? Want to put it on my calendar!” The busy young mama had accidentally put the wrong date with the wrong day of the week. How adorable, I thought.

Tara replied that the party would be Friday, Dec. 6th.

Here’s what was really going on, though.

In truth, I had missed Taylor’s surprise 30th birthday party in December of last year! I had been invited, but because Tara and I were tardy in becoming Facebook friends, I didn’t get the message until nine months later. But there I was, putting it on my calendar for 2024 like the complete goober I am and thinking Tara had simply put the wrong date on the invitation.

Tara contacted Taylor, certainly amused by my RSVP. The sisters have never told me they were laughing at me, but how could they not have been? I know now that Taylor said, “Her second book releases Dec. 1. Why don’t we just throw a party for her?”

And that’s how, last Friday, I walked into my church armed with a Happy Birthday helium balloon and card for Taylor, whose birthday it certainly was. My friends and family were there, yelling “Surprise!” when I walked in, and surprised I certainly was. At first, I thought I’d ruined Taylor’s birthday party somehow!

My family members and church family members made me feel so special that evening as they celebrated the release of my second book in the Together series. We got to eat and chat, and I got to sign some books. The balloons matched the cover of Packed Together, and the centerpieces were vintage in honor of my post-WW2 series. I can’t thank everyone by name, but I do want to note that Tara and Taylor and their family were in the midst of very fresh grief that Friday evening, making their commitment to this plan even more astounding. My mom, Joy, and my friend, Jen, also pitched in to help support the “Let’s Trick Kim” party.

This is a story about what it means to be loved. Who, on her own birthday, makes plans entirely centered on celebrating someone else? A “someone else” so clueless she didn’t realize you already had your 30th birthday and was not, in fact, at that party! My aunt and uncle had to fight Friday rush hour to come clear from the other side of Columbus. The woman who invited me to church and introduced me to my husband thirty years ago was there helping arrange the food. Family members young enough to have way more exciting plans came to hug me, instead. Friends I have talked books with, studied with, served with, raised kids alongside … they were there.

Some of the greatest spiritual giants I’ve known gave up their Friday evening just to let me know they were happy about what God was doing in my life. Thank you all, for the party and for so much more.

The short version is, they got me.

And what a blessing it really is to be truly gotten.

__________________________

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

John 13:34-35

Taylor and me in the mountains of Virginia, appropriately in front of a giant sign that reads LOVE!