SURPRISE!

Mattster

55

 I bet some of you are wondering what the big surprise was… Well I decided to surprise my family down South for a visit.  My Mom’s eye surgery had been moved up a month to Thursday, my brother was celebrating his 55^th birthday that same day, his eldest would be home for Spring break SURPRISE for both of us... and my other brother was driving in from Dallas with his eldest son. 

Well Mother Nature decided to throw a little wrench in the plan with a snowstorm hitting Chicago cancelling about a1000 flights. The electronic email said my flight would be on time. OK they lied. When it did arrive, it had to be de-iced.  (Let me digress, did you know they now spray Mountain Dew- well it looked like it) AND then once we landed in Chicago, they had us taxiing on the tarmac 40 minutes and in O’Hare, the flight board status had the connecting flight ready to board. They lied again as no plane was at the gate. AND the next flight out was cancelled if I missed this.  Fortunately, I didn’t have to find out whether they lied about a later flight as a plane did arrive and we even arrived in Little Rock on time. Heck that rarely happens even in good weather.

Then it took the village to pull the surprise off.  Friends picked me up and even  housed me.  I was over at my brother’s house first thing in the am surprising  my niece who answered the door after my phone call to wish her Dad a Happy Bday and telling her a package was on the front porch.  Then as the birthday boy sprinted through the family room to fix her lunch, he did a double take at the couch. Yep, someone extra, ME was there to celebrate his birthday. Surprise.

Before he took my folks to the hospital, I was dropped off at my Sister in law’s office where I surprised her and later her Mom. 

And then the coup de grace as I surprised my Dad in the Post Op waiting room and then my Mom as she was rolled out...

SEPTEMBER 2012

 I have to admit the biggest surprise was on me because she didn’t even look like my Mother. The prednisone had more than doubled her face size distorting all her features since I had seen her in September. I would never have recognized her. I am so glad that she couldn’t see that moment in my face. SURPRISEs can come in all sizes... 

Feb 28 2012