What do you do when your daughter turns 30
but she's 9,000 miles away in Singapore?
Throw a Skype Party, of course!
(Yes, that's the Taj Mahal, in India. Josh took her there for her birthday, and made her wear the goofy tee-shirt and mask. As you may notice, she's carrying her next child, due in August.)First thing was making sure she got her favorite cake! For as long as I can remember, Rebecca asked for cakes with strawberries on her birthday. I got online and found a place in Singapore,
7th Manna, that delivers fresh strawberry cakes at a reasonable price! They were so easy to work with.
Next, we invited about 30 local people to come (and Jessica from Roseville who is in frequent contact with Rebecca). I prearranged with Josh to have Rebecca home and ready on Saturday morning, when it would be Friday evening for us. The time zone difference is 15 hours, so we set it for 6 PM here.
A couple of weeks ahead of time, we mailed a box full of small gifts, paper party goods, and a couple of decorations to Josh at the
school where he teaches. He did a great job of hiding it from Rebecca. The day before the party, the cake was delivered to Josh, also at school, and he took a taxi home to keep it fresh (it gets pretty hot in Singapore, and he usually rides public transportation).
We had a sketchy start; we lost internet connection for two hours before the party started. I was pretty stressed knowing the party couldn't happen without a connection. Dan was on the phone with a tech at our
provider's, then Dustin came and helped complete the fix. We came back online FIVE MINUTES before the start of the party! Soon, we had a room full of well-wishers.
Yvette and I had told Rebecca we would be calling. Ever since they moved over there, we talk frequently by
Skype. It's a FREE internet video calling service, requiring a webcam. For the party, we set up Dan's Mac laptop in my kitchen. We had it turned so that she could just see Yvette and I. Everyone else was waiting a few feet away, quietly, in the living room.
We chatted a few moments, then told Rebecca that her Grandma and Grandpa had come in and wanted to say hi. As we turned the laptop, everyone started singing "Happy Birthday". I think Rebecca was TRULY surprised! I hope she'll comment about it here...
One by one, everyone from the party came up to the monitor to speak a few minutes with her. She was online for about two hours!
Dan (above) explaining to Rebecca that he was bummed when she turned 16 before him, but now...
Then, it was time for Cake! Josh had gone to get the cake from their refrigerator (he'd told Rebecca that she couldn't look in the fridge that morning), and I was off-screen lighting the one we had here. Simultaneously, she had cake coming from behind and on-screen. Once again we sang, and she blew out her candles in Singapore. Rebecca D. blew out the candles here!
As Rebecca continued to speak with all her guests, Yvette, two of the D. girls and I handed out cake here. Then, she opened her gifts.
All in all, it was the next-best thing to being there! I only wish I could have given her a big ole birthday hug and kiss. I can't believe it's been thirty years since that wondrous day when my life was blessed with this beautiful daughter.
Happy Birthday, Rebecca!
*for some reason, the photos are pretty blurry.
