The suprise 49th Anniversary Party

We always get the whole family together at the Creek by Jay's on the fourth.
Having July 4th on a Saturday, and it being the summer of the 49th anniversary of Muv and TGP's nuptials, we couldn't resist the surprise party on Friday the 3rd.

It's difficult to surprise a woman who can't sit still, but MA and I, together with Kim and Sarah and Nancy and Ken, kept her just busy enough to not be suspicious of our 7:30 dinner reservations at Spindletop.

When we finally got them walking together enough to open the door, over 100 of their nearest and dearest were there to surprise them.

All of my out of town cousins made it to Lexington, except Wright, who's in Norway. We had M&F's friends from Pinehurst, UofC med school, Yale and various Navy posts. What a testament to people's love for them.

For those of you who really want to see all the pictures, try cousin Rich's gallery. If you're on Facebook, Anne Wheeler Hollingsworth posted a bunch of great creek pictures.

Daughter Eleanor, in the tradition of Muv herself, presented a lovely poem:

How They Met
7/3/2009

Twas the summer before his senior Yale year
In auditions for Carousel he had nothing to fear
And how could he know such a small summer play
in Lexington no less could have brought every one of us here today?

In a role he was cast
In the ensemble she sang
She was instantly someone he couldn't look past
Clad in bright orange shorts she waltzed in with a bang

But this story my friend, is not over yet
these two are still strangers who've barely just met
His Hollingsworth swagger gained him no ground
And his first request was quite quickly turned down

Our hero, thank goodness, determined not to be dismayed
And he hurried onward in his quest, and would not be way-laid
As for Alice, she was either now smitten
Or knew he'd keep trying

So, ... as sure as I've written
She accepted his second request to go dining
The pair headed out to Jerry's diner
At this point of our story things couldn't be finer

That is until Vertrees got a look at the prices
In his own classy style, all he could buy was hot cheese and two bread slices
They split one grilled cheese
and more than one laugh(ter)
Conversed with such ease
the first hint of happily ever after

Their summer and courtship whizzed right on by
But not before she got pinned by her guy
Just like the musical that started it all
by the time school started back in the fall

They'd gone from "June is bursting out all over" to "You'll never walk alone"
Two young loves had found a life long home

Isn't it easy, these five decades later
to see that this pair has made all our lives greater

As the story goes "Mother bent over and Father fell in love"
So because of some bright orange shorts, she's got four grown children that all call her Muv



Thanks to Spindletop (and Steve and Tish, whose name we used) as well as special thanks to party planner sister Sophia.

A good time was had by all.