Birthday surprises

Today a few of my coworkers took me out to lunch at a local Indian buffet.
I love having Indian food once in a while, and this place is very tasty. I
also figured I was safe from the ubiquitous rendition of "Happy Birthday".

Well, not quite. One of my coworkers mentioned to the waiter that it was my
birthday, perhaps hoping they'd sing it in Indian or such. That didn't
happen, but the waiter did bring out mango ice cream and a dessert bread for
all of us at the table., At which point another coworker decided that since
we had the requisite cake and ice cream, "Happy Birthday" needed to be sung.

So my coworkers all sang to me, and I apparently turned bright red. And
practically the whole restaurant applauded. Fortunately, it's a very small
restaurant. And while I was highly embarrassed, I'm also sort of tickled
about the whole matter.

That was not the only surprise so far, though. When I got home last night,
I discovered that my parents sent me a floor lamp for my stitching as a
birthday present. Very nice! I'll have to try it out when I get back from
Germany.