4 Wheels 4 Girls

August 5th, once we were in Iowa, Aunt Rose told us that that night, we’d go out to dinner. We didn’t know where we were going until we got there. We were in a little town called Rossville. The town really was teeny, and the only restaurant was a little fried fish place called the “Ol’ Rossville Store”. Which is where we ate.

When we pulled in to Rossville, I saw that the restaurant was packed. We had to drive around the parking lot twice to try to find a spot. Finally, we found one, and we hopped out and headed for the building. I had rode out to Rossville with Aunt Barb, and since Jean wasn’t with us, she told me that we were here as a surprise party for Jean. I hadn’t known that before!

We stepped into the restaurant and I saw Jean behind me. Yes! I couldn’t wait to see her face when she realized this was all for her! She came up beside me.
“Hi, Jean,” I said, trying not to sound excited.
“Hello, Stella!–” she started, but was interrupted when we stepped into the party room by a huge, “SURPRISE! Happy birthday, Jean!”
Jean’s face went first to confusion, next to joy, and then she started laughing and crying and she hugged everyone and said, “Oh, guys! You didn’t have to– oh, wow.”

Enjoying a surprise birthday party

I said hi to everyone. All of Jean’s brothers and sisters were there, which is a lot. She has three brothers, Gary, Mike, and Greg, and four sisters, Mary, Rose, Barb, and Janice. All of them have husbands and wives except for Barb and Janice, who both once had husbands but got divorced. So then I have Lisa, Fay, and Kim, and then I have Mark and Bob. So there were a lot of people there, including our family, which has six people. And Greg and Fay have a little boy that’s my cousin that was there named Thurgood, AND there was Grandma. SO…

I ordered the special, which was fried cod fish with tarter sauce. It was good, but I couldn’t finish it because I filled up on the salad bar. (And, but don’t tell, the fruit jello.) So I took my leftovers home. Jean got a few presents, and she got great cards with things like, “Wait, why did I come in to this room?” and “Where did I put the phone?” when the 50-year-old lady in the picture had it in her hand. They were really funny, and, thankfully, Jean though they were funny, too.

I had a great dinner, and plan on having it again (by my leftovers) some day soon!