Because we think you're dying to see this ...

As many of you already know, Anne's 40th birthday is today. And for the big event, her parents and I plotted a major ruse (in the works since May!). Unbeknownst to Anne, they flew into Paris and trained down to Narbonne on Friday. Jacques and Christianne picked them up at the train station while we were at hockey practice and then afterwards, we all headed down there for what Anne thought was just a little birthday cocktail. We got there at the appointed hour and Anne knocked on the door ...

(Don't worry about the bad filmwork for the first few seconds ... I was hiding the camera behind my back!)


She has had her first birthday gifts, the phone is ringing off the hook, and we have a huge grillade planned for tonight. If you are one of the dozen-or-so-people who had to keep quiet to preserve her surprise: thank you! You can see from the video that she didn't have a clue and she is in seventh heaven. Which is a good place to be if you also have to be forty.

One of Anne's gifts is something she's been saying for years: I don't care where I am for my fortieth, as long as it's Paris. So we are off, the two of us, on Wednesday for three days, after which Doreen, Renald, and the boys will join us for a crazy Paris weekend! More after that ...