The Emotional Birthday Surprise That Touched Grandma’s Heart

It was a normal evening in a small town. The yellow lights of a warm restaurant could be seen through the windows and invite everyone with the sounds of laughter and music and the aroma of food. Families sat at wooden tables and ate grilled meat, bread and hot soup. On one corner, close to the wall that had pictures in frames of old memories, was an old woman who was named Margaret. She was an old woman of 84, with hair silvery and soft, with eyes full of wisdom and kindness.

To Margaret this was not a common dinner hour. It was her birthday She had spent many long years of joy and struggle but recently life had been more quiet, more lonely. Her children were occupied with work and were distant. Most of her friends had migrated to other towns or died. Margaret was accustomed to spending the greater part of her days in her little home, and to knitting, reading, and watching the birds outside her window.

Margaret was pleased, and more than a trifle nervous, when her granddaughter Emily asked her to dinner. She had not been out in the open to celebrate her birthday in years. She did not think it was going to be a complicated meal She could never dream that this night will be one of the most emotional and wonderful moments of her life.

The restaurant was all a-life, and Margaret sat quietly at the table, glancing around with bashful curiosity. Emily had requested her favorite food, grilled ribs with mashed potatoes, and a small salad. The waiter smiled at her as the plate was placed before her, hot.

Happy birthday, madam, he said, and set the dish before her.

Margaret stared. She did not inform anybody about her birthday, including even a waiter. She gazed at Emily, with surprise, who smiled and winked.

Don t fuss, Grandma. I might have said to them, Emily whispered.

Margaret laughed, and shook her head. She had a little bite of her food and relished the tastes as her heart began to beat more rapidly. Something was not the same tonight.

Margaret had begun to think that the evening would be uneventful, when the room broke out into pleasant applause. One of the attendants, bearing a little dessert on which an illumination was burning, shouted out:

Ladies and gentlemen will you please pay attention? Our guest, tonight, is very special! Today she is 84 years young. Happy Birthday Margaret, a big one to our pretty visitor!”

The entire restaurant cheered. Others whistled, some clapped harder and a bunch of kids screamed, Happy Birthday to you, Grandma!

Margaret froze. Her eyes opened wide, her lips quavered and her hands shook a little. She was not accustomed to such attention. Years after years, her birthdays were uneventful, and at best a phone call, or a plain greeting card. She was in the middle of a crowded restaurant, strangers were smiling and looking pleasant at her, singing to her, and cheering up her life.

Margaret sensed at her eyes gathering tears as the little dessert before her flickered and smoldered in the candle light. She would have suppressed them, but the feelings swept down on her heart like a tide. She blushed and smiled shyly, flushing to the tips of her ears, and then a tear trickled down her cheek.

Emily stretched across and held the hand of her grandmother. You ought to have this, Grandma. You have a right to be loved and celebrated.”

Margaret barely had the ability to speak. She shut her eyes a moment, calling to mind all the birthdays of her past–as a little girl blowing candles on a cake she had made herself, as a young mother with her children, and afterward, when she was older and birthdays were more quietly and lonely.

This birthday was not the same. It reminded her that love may come even in the wrongs corners or even by people who she had never seen in her life before.

Restaurant employees were crowding her table and were clapping their hands. And so with broad smiles they sang:

Happy Birthday to you.. Again Happy Birthday to you Margaret… Happy Birthday to you!

Everybody in the restaurant joined. Other people who did not even know each other sang together, and their voices were filled with warmth. Margaret grew great-hearted. She smiled in the midst of her tears, with a radiant face.

As the song was concluded, everyone clapped again and a man at another table yelled, 84 years and still looking good!

The room was filled with laughter and for a moment Margaret had her face in her hands, stunned yet so happy. She had never been so visible, so valued and so honored before.

Margaret had a wish as she slowly blew out the candle. She did not want wealth or health and long life. What she wanted instead was very ordinary, not to be alone again.

She remembered her dead husband who would take her dancing on her birthday. When her children were young, she recalled the giggles that she heard as they played with balloons and cake around the house. She thought of her friends of long ago, who used to visit her with surprises and amusing songs.

And at that moment it seemed that all those memories were present, that they were moving in her heart just like the sunshine is warm.

Emily said to her grandmother, when she had ceased laughing, “Grandma, I know you do not like so much fuss. But I wanted to make you feel how much you are loved, not only by us, but by everybody. You have lived a wonderful life and you deserve all the cheers, all the applause, all the songs.”

Margaret held on to Emily. Thank you, little girl. It is the best birthday I have had in years and years.

The cake in front of her was modest-looking–merely a chocolate brownie with a dollop of cream. To Margaret it was like the greatest gift in the world. It was not about the dessert and singing. It was the notion of memory and appreciation and being loved.

There was more laughter and stories to finish off the evening. Margaret related to Emily and the waiter her younger years, how she would bake cakes on the birthday of her children, how she once attempted to dance on a table during her 40 th birthday party. Every one laughed with her, and their eyes were bright.

As it was going to leave, there was something magical. Strangers spoke to her, shook her hand and wished her, again. Others embraced her.

As Margaret walked out of the restaurant she felt lighter than she had ever felt in her life. She had spent years pondering that birthdays were merely reminders of one getting older but today she discovered that they were reminders of the love, connection, and life itself.

When she opened the door to the cool night, she said to herself, I am 84 but tonight, I feel young again.

And in her heart she knew she never would forget this birthday–the night strangers had become friends, the tears had changed into smiles and lonesomeness had been changed to pure joy.