"billie jean, it's not my birthday."

i just had the coolest "surprise birthday party", but i should have known something was wrong from the beginning. it started out normally though, the way many of my birthday parties have started: with 2 people having shown up because i suck at planning parties. so it's dark outside and raining and me and these lone 2 friends are celebrating my birthday and it's a definitely low-key affair. plus, one of them is pointedly distracted because she'd just gotten into a car accident the same day and is spending the time "venting".

i am disappointed, but i've come to expect this of my birthdays after awhile now. and then, there's a twist. we walk into a room for cake or whatever, and everybody from my church family is there and they all greet me singing saying "what, do you think we forgot?" and it was great. see, every year, i don't really trip on gifts at all, but it's a complete drag to be alone on your birthday. all i really want is to have people that i care about show up, laugh and eat, and show they love me by spending some time. it makes my year. so when i saw them all, i was beside myself. i thought that they had forgotten.

but then the twist gets twisted. some guy who looks like michael jackson shows up, smiles real big, shakes my hand, gives me a hug and says happy birthday. it takes me a minute to survey, but i look, and i look, and it actually is michael jackson. i flip for two reasons. one, michael jackson is at my birthday party, and two, he's chillin' like he's known me my whole life. plus, they tell me janet is in the other room. i see the back of her head, but i don't want to get excited until i see her face to face. mainly i'm wondering who knew somebody who knew somebody who had mad connections and pulled the string of a lifetime. are you dubious? good. 'cause i am too... but nonetheless fully in the moment and completely overcome by it.

we all go into a room that seats about 200 and it's pretty dang near full of people that i don't know, but probably met me once at one time or another. they seat me in the back and i'm all amped wondering what's gonna happen next. well, nobody comes on stage, but people start standing up from the crowd and turning to me with spotlights on them. a few were cousins from bakersfield smiling and wishing me a happy birthday.

then the spotlight goes to somebody entering the room and i recognize it's vanessa bell armstrong. then she starts singing and walks across the room and hands the mic to someone else in the crowd. it's three singers i don't recognize, a guy and two girls, but i do recognize one of the girls is from the group pam & dodi and she's hitting some really high notes while the other two do 2 part harmony.

then an even bigger surprise. in four different places in the room, women stand up and spotlights hit them and i absolutely bug out when i realize it's the clark sisters: twinkie, jackie, dorinda, and closest to me is karen. then they start singing in perfect harmony. at this point i am completely in disbelief. i didn't pinch myself, but i did have a look outside to see if there was some other incredible surprise out there and there was. it was bright and midday sunny outside.
at this point, i'm like "hold up. what's going on here. it was dark and raining before." and then it's like my own brain starts talking to me with an overdubbed voice in by-the-by fashion: "oh yeah. it's a dream." regardless of how real what i saw felt, i was dreaming the whole thing. now i don't like practical jokes and i had just played a big one on myself. i felt sentiments of being chagrinned, cheated, and disappointed rising up in me as i put the pieces together...

like what was michael jackson doing there? and janet too? and all those gospel singers i love? i don't even know twinkie clark. and exactly who were those lone two friends who i was hanging with? i've never met them in my entire life. and really, the whole time, i was kinda thinking: "hmm. i didn't know it was my birthday. oh well." seriously though. if michael jackson showed up at your house for your birthday, but it wasn't your birthday, would you send him home?

i was just amazed at this full out reasoning process that happened completely within a dream, like nested mismatched levels of weird consciousness and unconsciousness. i even reckoned to myself that it was still january 2005 and my birthday's not 'til april when arriving at the conclusion. but before i could get mad at whoever punk'd me, my brain says again, "well? so? it's a dream. get on back in there and enjoy it." so i thought "eh... why not." so i went back to the celebration, still asleep and well aware that i was dreaming, and i enjoyed myself.