This year, C’s birthday gave me a gift — a reminder to go with the flow a little more.

All week, I peppered him with ideas for Friday night — should I call this friend, or that friend?  How about the shared birthday of J?  Nothing sparked much of a response, so I resigned myself to a quiet dinner with the four of us.  I THOUGHT I had accepted this but really I hadn’t.

His Dad was brining a salmon and I was assembling the ice cream cake, when one of C’s friend’s called and said they were planning a surprise party for him.  They brought snacks, had a cake delivered.  I made pork chops  (recipe from Caprial and John’s Kitchen) for a small army, K. grilled the salmon (a la Cooks, using my friend Elizabeth Germain‘s incredible recipe) and it turned into a party!  Not only was my worry for naught, it could have forced a plan that would have gotten in the way.