Bill's Birthday

Flood Crew Cook Bill Luxford celebrates a once-in-a-lifetime birthday in Cedar Rapids.

All the flood crew wanted to do was give a little back to a guy on his birthday who is gave so much of himself to them, but unfortunately it ended up in red lights and sirens. My cell phone started buzzing just after dinner on Monday. When I answered it was a member of the Nebraska flood crew staying in our building telling me not to panic, but that the fire department was on the way to our church.

A few days earlier one of the crew members called me asking if I knew a place to go dancing in Cedar Rapids on a Monday night. She said it was their cook, Bill's, birthday and he is a fun guy who likes to go dancing. I did some checking and made a few meager suggestions of different entertainment options and I remember thinking to myself whatever they end up doing I bet they are going to have a fun and memorable time. That turned out to be an understatement.

They decided to go with a surprise birthday cake topping with a flaming sparkler "5" and "8" for Bill's 58th year of life. When they came out of the kitchen swinging doors with the cake singing "Happy Birthday to you," I can almost visualize the smiles on their faces. They set the cake down on the table in front of Bill, but there was just one minor problem with the plan - the cake and it's flaming garnish were directly under the only ceiling smoke in the large dinning room. You can imagine their horror (and laughter) when the alarm started to go off. In fact, I bet they are STILL laughing as they read this now.

As Bill recalled to the story to a few of us on church staff the next day, his eyes lit up as he described getting to meet the fire fighters with his birthday hat on and getting to take his picture next to them. However they declined his inquiry to give him a ride on the fire truck, even though it was his actually birthday and he even offered to sweeten the deal with a piece of chocolate cake. Oh well. It was a watermark day in First Lutheran Flood Recovery and I'm sure it'll go down as one of Bill's most memorable birthdays ever. Happy Birthday, Bill!