This day was and will remain the best day of my whole ski adventure.  We left Baker late afternoon and drove at least an hour west to our cousin Sara and husband Jeff’s ski house near Sugarloaf in a small town named Kingfield.  Little did I know that sister Kate was making clandestine phone calls while I was in paying for gas or getting a snack.  The house was dark as we approached and parked the car.  I felt around for the hidden key – it was very dark and cold.  As I unlocked the side door the room instantly lit up with light and the smiles “surprise” cheers of the rest of my sisters – Janet, Beth, Dee and Wink – whom had all flown into Boston (from Philadelphia, Virginia Beach, Seattle and San Francisco respectively), driven four hours to Kingfield and sat in a darkened house for a couple of hours waiting to give me the best surprise party of my life.  To see the radiant smiles and sparkling eyes of these five precious women and to receive their loving (group) embrace is to know how fortunate I really am.  Thanks to each of you sweet ladies for coming all that way to celebrate your brother’s birthday – you’re the best a man could ask for!

There is more to this evening of surprises.

With tears still flowing from greeting my great sibs, in, to my further surprise, walks my own family – Holly, Geordie and Tyler.  Oh my, I was now a complete basket case – you see I knew Holly was coming but I had no idea that my son Geordie would fly home from college and son Tyler would cancel his already booked orchestra trip to London to be with their father.  Their arrival put me totally over the edge for I adore these three incredibly special people.  Thanks so much Geordie and Tyler – I was so touched that you came and thanks Holly for coming and arranging for the guys to make it up – it was really very special.

Hugs, tears, kisses soon evolved into laughs about fantastic stories about the hundreds of emails and phone calls between them all to plan for this surprise.  The plan for this surprise was germinated months ago and started with Katie booking her flight to join me for these four days.  Once this was set – then everyone else made their plans and checked them three times.  Well I am here to report I did not have a clue (which was amazing given our chatty family) and I was amazed at the carefully coordinated plans.  Even my wife Holly got a new email address to keep the correspondence secret – we are all renaming her by her email name – Helen (how did you get that name anyway Hol??).  The rest of the evening, and in fact the whole weekend, was just pure delight – new stories, old stories, older stories, updates on all of the eight grandchildren, food, photos and lots and lots of laughter.  Life does not get much better.

But one more surprise to come - tomorrow

The next day we all dawned our ski gear and headed up to Sugarloaf for a great morning of skiing.  This was a tradition started long ago when our family rented a three room cabin near Sugarloaf that had no running water and was kept at outdoor temperature until we arrived to light up the oil fired heater.  Many a winter was spent with all of us and our fiends crammed into this tiny but wonderful space.  Then, like now, we filled the air with loud laughter.  So it was again, for the first time in over 35 years that all the Wood kids dressed for a day of skiing at Sugarloaf (a nod to our dear departed mother who helped us countless times with our one piece ski outfits, mittens and hats).  It was a great morning of skiing ending in the last great surprise of the weekend – Dad and Nancy drove the two and one half hours from Orono to join us all for lunch.  Sure I had seen them just two nights ago but did not expect to see them again – thanks you two for coming over for a great family lunch – it was wonderful to have us all together.

And a little more frosting for this cake – cousin Zippy and Sara (with family) all come over for a visit.  A very special thanks to Sara and Jeff for letting use their cabin for our reunion – you’re great.  Saturday night was spent over another great meal with more great conversation, pool and darts.  Sunday morning to noon all but Beth and Jan had to leave to catch planes, be ready for school or head back to work – far too short but a permanent part of my memory book.