MOMS RISING FOR FUN
Alicia Uecker knew something was up but wasn’t quite sure what. When her 12 female friends also from Ripon (San Joaquin Valley ) drove her to San Francisco for her 40th birthday in August nothing clued her in on the surprise awaiting her. It happened their journey coincided with the day when the Raiders and the 49ers were playing simultaneously. So the roads were packed.
Her jokester friends ribbed her and said, “Yes we’re going to the game and you’re going to be a cheerleader.”
“Oh no,” Alicia thought, her heart sinking. “They rather kidnapped me.”
“When we drove up to restaurant in the limo, they said, ‘OK we’re here; get out.’ I had no previous idea that we would be going to the Fior d’Italia. We had cocktails and appetizers and then went to Beach Blanket Babylon . I’d never been there before. After the show my girlfriends made a great green hat, like the ones in Beach Blanket Babylon.
Then we had dinner at the Fior d’Italia.”
Alicia’s friends are all mothers that share their interests in parenting and volunteerism and have known each other years. They expended a lot of imagination and effort in showing their friend how much they loved her.
The hat was personalized with pictures of my children, a mock birth certificate, and a mention of how I order my coffee when I go to a coffee shop. It was wonderful for me,” she remembered.
Brenda Machado, one of her scampish pals, said the festivities were created around the theme of “You’re a Star.” And they presented her with a list of 40 items of her favorite things — showing how well they’ve come to know her over the years — including a bottle of Tapatio for her yen for hot sauce.
Now Alicia says she has to persuade her husband to take her back to the Fior d’Italia.
