Sneaky, Sneaky

As summer approached, Josh was pretty bummed about not being able to go back to CA for our annual trip. He is taking Master's classes, and not allowed to miss any, so we decided to stick around here for the summer.

The long face and puppy dog eyes got to me after a while. I hatched a plan to fly Josh's best friend in to surprise him. I admittedly have a hard time keeping "fun" secrets. Any type of really great gift is always given to the intended recipient long before the birthday commences. My mom had to force me not to give her Christmas present the day it arrived. Anyway, the ticket was booked late May, I had seven weeks to not blow the surprise.

The first six went by so quickly that I only almost messed up once. We were in the grocery store looking at a giant rack of ribs and I almost said "We can get that when Hartog is here". I caught myself in time and he did not catch on. The closer the date came, though, the harder it became. It is natural to plan the next week, and time and again I caught myself before the words came out. Getting him to the airport was also complicated. I ran down the list of people we knew that would make visits to MI, and his aunt and uncle were about the only solution.


Monday, we loaded up the car to head on out to the airport. Just as the plane arrived, little Bryce decided to have a major blow out. I told Josh to quickly run to the car for the diaper bag. He got back just in time, and I finished changing the diaper just as Hartog came through the revolving glass door.

It took Josh a minute to connect that his friend was here. He muttered "Dude" reminiscent of the Bud commercials and popped onto his feet. He thought that Hartog was just flying through and we happened to be at the airport. After the confusion settled, he finally started to see just how many people it took to keep it a surprise... I think for a long time he still expected his aunt and uncle to show up.

Special thanks to my parents for letting us use the van, Uncle Norm and Aunt Char for allowing us to use you as our visitors, Josh's parents for playing along and getting us to the airport, and friends that knew for not spilling the beans.


He actually leaves tomorrow, but what a fun week we have had. Lots of reminiscing, laughing, and relaxing. The decision was made that the reunion next year needs to be at Huntington Beach hotel. I guess we better start saving!