Ootsie's Big Surprise

So a little while ago, I was reflecting on the previous year and realized that I really haven't seen my parents as much this year as I did last year. Last year was awesome, where we saw them every two months or so. But i felt bad this year because Gulliver has been doing some really awesome things and I didn't want my parents to miss it all. So when I saw southwest's tickets go on sale, i found a reasonable fare to Baltimore and booked it, using southwest credit that i already had.

Then i called my dad to tell him that I'd booked a flight, and wouldn't it be fun to surprise mom! This was a few weeks ago. Since then, we'd been planning everything. My flight would arrive at midnight. We would sneak into the house and Gulliver and i would sleep in the basement. Then in the morning, I'd send gulliver walking into my mom's room to wake her up.

So yesterday i flew from salt lake to Denver to baltimore. I must say, the salt lake airport has a children's play area that thoroughly entertained Gulliver while i caught up on emails on my iPad (yes you read that right) using salt lake airport's free wireless.









In Denver, my late-night flight was delayed 2.5 hours, and the airport's free wireless wasn't working, and i got serious attitude at the information desk when i asked them if they had a children's play area. They don't, by the way. Which made me not feel bad when gulliver left many many hand prints on their windows, stinky diapers in their trashes, and crushed cheerios and Teddy grahams on their floors. Take THAT, Denver!

In the meantime, i had to keep my dad in the loop, and my poor dad thought i was joking when i said I'd be getting in at 2, not 12. I had to assure him several times that i was not, in fact, joking. So he told me that he'd take a nap.

A couple hours later, my brother fabuloso called to say that he'd been talking to my mom, who had said, "Your father is napping. It's 9:00 at night. I don't know why your father would be napping." hahaha

Our flight, beyond being delayed, was fairly uneventful. Gulliver was fairly good on both flights, but didn't sleep much on the second flight, which I'd been looking forward to so that i could watch a movie or read a book. On my iPad.

We got in at Baltimore, where my daddy met us, and let me know that we were kind of busted. So let me start telling the story from my mom's perspective.

My mom sometimes has trouble sleeping. So she woke up and my dad wasn't in the room. She thought maybe he was having trouble sleeping, so she went looking for him. He wasn't in the living room or the kitchen. And neither was the dog! She went down to the basement and he wasn't there. But in the bedroom, the bed was cleared off and made up nicely, and the pack and play was set up. Still, she thought maybe he was organizing. But he was definitely missing. (I may point out here that technically my dad was out in the middle of the night at a secret rendez-vous with another woman.)

She went back upstairs and called my dad. My dad, who already has some problems distinguishing my mom and me over the phone, and who has us both listed in his phone as ICE (in case of emergency) assumed that i was calling. So he picked up the phone and said, "Which flight were you on? I thought southwest from Denver."

"What?" my mom asked, thoroughly confused.

"Where are you?" asked my dad.

"I'm at home. Where are YOU?" asked my mom.

Realizing his error, my dad thought quickly and said, "I got hungry so i went out to get something to eat."

I may insert here that at some point during planning i had told my dad that he could always just say that someone from church had had a flood and he rushed over to help out. But in a pinch, my dad chose the "hungry" option. At 2:00 a.m.

When my dad and i got home, all the lights were out and the house was silent. We creeped in and looked up the stairs to see if we could see my mom but she wasn't there. So we went downstairs to get settled into our room. My dad wished us a good night and went upstairs. And then as i continued to get settled i could hear my dad. And my mom. Coming closer. When my dad had gone upstairs, he found my mom watching tv, waiting for him. She hadn't heard us come in. She asked my dad what was going on, and he tried to block her from coming downstairs, but the dog, Maeby, was clearly trying to tell my mom about the guests downstairs.

So i managed to ruin everyone's sleep that night. But she was genuinely surprised and delighted to see us, no matter what time of day. And her face was priceless as she was asking, "What are you DOING here?"

So that was my big surprise. And it's been fun so far! Yay! And I'm looking forward to all the fun we will have this week!

(And poor Murray is at home, being productive and enjoying another brief stint of bachelorhood.)

(And here's a glimpse of the havoc Gulliver is wreaking in my parents' home.)







-- Post From My iPad, with apologies for the typos and for the self righteousness of admitting I have an iPad.

Location:Vantage Point Rd,Columbia,United States