S is for Surprise

William and Mary students (80% of whom reside in campus dorms) live together, study together, work together, eat together, stay up late together, party together, exercise together, and more.  This makes planning surprise birthday parties infinitely easier than in high school, where it is much more difficult to find an excuse to drag someone to a room or house other than their own for an undisclosed reason.

My sophomore year, my mom collaborated with a close friend of mine (Katie Adams, also a former admission intern) to plan for the Gentlemen of the College, a favorite W&M a cappella group, to serenade me.  I thought I was headed to dinner, but instead found myself in a Jamestown North dorm lounge with the Gentlemen!  Confession: I was so moved that I cried.

For my birthday junior year, my friends Allison and Michael kidnapped me at 5am, drove me to Virginia Beach in time to see the sunrise, and ate a picnic breakfast with me on the beach.  That evening, after our weekly poker night, they took me to the Jamestown ferry for a late-night boat ride.

When Allison’s birthday came along a few months later, I reciprocated with my own birthday surprise for her.  Our friends Nik and Samanthe stole Allison (middle, red coat)  from a party, blindfolded her, and carried her (upside-down, I might add) to Matoaka Amphitheater.  There, she found twenty of her closest friends holding candles and singing “Happy Birthday” to her in the absolute darkness of Lake Matoaka.  This promptly turned into a huge food fight.

This year has been an especially popular year for surprise parties, as so many of my friends are turning 21, an especially significant age in college.  Many of the surprise celebrations recently precede friends’ first visits to local bars.

A pre-party for the Green and Gold Affair, an annual fall all-campus formal, was the perfect opportunity to surprise Sarah (front row, pink ribbon) on her 21st birthday:

Shay’s surprise party involved an hour-long wait with more than 45 of her friends in an over-occupancy dorm room.  It was well worth the wait- she (right, white shirt) was so pleased!

I feel extremely grateful for good friends here who- not just during birthdays, but all the time- plan small and large gestures to remind me that they care.  I am lucky that the Tribe is such a loving, supportive, and encouraging family.

Go Tribe,

Bailey