I have had a few shocks the last couple of years.

Having a heart attack was one. Being named Blue Earth Community Service Award recipient in 2022 was another.

And now, I had another one last Sunday.

Let me tell you about it.

We were camping all weekend at our campsite near Elysian, Minnesota, with a whole lot of our family members. That included kids, spouses of kids, grandkids, great-grandkid, granddogs and a bunch of others.

We served supper to 22 folks on Friday night, to give you some idea. There were 11 who stayed overnight each night, and many others came and went each day, just for the day.

On Sunday, we were going to take a break from camping and go into Elysian to the community center because our dear friends Don and Joyce Kaplan were celebrating their wedding anniversary.

We have known them for many years, and in fact they own the land we camp on. And they once owned an elk farm that had a petting zoo with it that my grandkids loved to go to when they were growing up.

So, we were all going to go to the anniversary party.

Except there was no anniversary party. It was all a lie.

As I walked in the door, the first person I saw was Kevin Mertens and I tried to quickly figure out how Kevin Mertens knew my good friends Don and Joyce.

Then I saw he was sitting with the whole darn Faribault County Register staff and their spouses. How could they all know Don and Joyce?

The next ones I saw were my good friends (and fellow Bethany College classmates) Jim and Judy Holland from Frost.

Now I briefly thought there just might be a possibility that Jim (who I call Olaf) and Judy could know Don and Joyce somehow or other.

But, next I saw two of my cousins and their spouses from Chattanooga, Tennesee, and I knew there was no way in heck that they knew Don and Joyce.

Then I realized that everyone in the place was singing Happy Birthday to me. And, in my dazed and confused condition that made no sense at all, because, you see, it was not my birthday. It was not even close to my birthday, which, by the way, is in November.

Suddenly I felt I had entered the Twilight Zone and I even thought I saw Rod Serling in the crowd. But no, it was a cousin of mine from Winona.

The final shocker was seeing who was serving the food and realizing it was Phyl and Penni from the P-Pod in Blue Earth.

There was a really diverse group of people there. And everywhere I looked I saw someone else I knew and maybe had not seen for a while, even a very long while.

There were newspaper publishers and editors, most of them retired, from around the state of Minnesota. There were old friends from when we lived in Tyler, some 18 years ago. Heck, there were even friends from when we lived in Waterville 40 years ago. And a college roommate from Bethany College from 50 years ago.

Cousins from Minnesota, Wisconsin and even Arizona. Nieces and nephews who live in Sioux Falls, Omaha, Colorado and Minneapolis. In-laws from Rochester, Janesville, and even one from the state of Washington.

Some of you may remember Pam’s sister Denise, as she was the Blue Earth City Campground host for a few years. She lives in her camper and tours the whole U.S, and is currently in Washington state and flew back to be part of this attempt to shock me.

It worked. I was shocked. And in awe. I did my darndest to talk to every single one of the nearly 100 people there and I may or may not have accomplished that.

One of my grandkids made the comment that, “Gee grandpa, you sure know a lot of people.”

I agreed. It comes with the job of being a newspaper guy, loving to meet new people, having a lot of friends and relatives – and it comes with the fact I have lived in a few different places.

It was fun – after the initial shock – and I am thankful for the hard work put in to it all and the effort that people made to get there.

But, like our reporter, Katie, writes in her column this week, I, too, am feeling old and I think I am ready to be done with birthday celebrations.

Besides, they are never gonna top this one.

My advice is that if you are having a big “milestone” birthday coming up and get invited to a wedding anniversary party, be a little bit leery and don’t be “blissfully unaware” like I was.