Surprise, Mom!

I couldn't blog about my plans for last weekend; they were a surprise to my most loyal reader, after all. ;-)

A few months ago, I emailed my sister and asked if she and her family would be heading to our mother's house for Mother's Day this year. See, in years past when I've gone to Mom's (which is most except for a few I've spent with my grandmother in North Texas), problems frequently occurred that prevented my sister and her gang from being there. One year a daughter was terribly ill with a stomach bug (no, really, please, stay home!), another year or two, her husband had agreed to play in the band for church that weekend, etc. I was hoping by starting this communication in March, we'd catch Dave before he committed to the band.

And indeed, we did! Originally, the plan was for me to fly to Houston then ride to Mom's (about 90 minutes) with my sister's crew---and as a total surprise to my mother. But as we kept planning, more things came to be, air prices were outrageous (capitalizing, no doubt, on it being Mother's Day), and the timing was just not working out well.

Duh! I'm still, being in Memphis, only an eight-hour drive away. Sure, gasoline is expensive, but the cost of driving is the same as a fabulous sale on an airline ticket. So I decided to drive.

By this time, my brother agreed to be at Mom's too; he'd made other plans originally. He may not have totally "gotten" the issue of a surprise, but he did arrange his plans to be there with us, so he got it as much as was necessary.

I was going to drive in on Friday, but Mom was not expecting anyone until Saturday. Hmmmm. After a lot of thought, I left myself open to Friday, but decided the most likely plan would be for Saturday---planning to arrive around the same time as others.

(Turns out it was a great thing I was able to hold off until Saturday. I had a personal goal of grading my exams before Mother's Day weekend, and I needed that extra day to get finished.)

Anyway, I made it there about ten minutes after my sister's family. I called my sister to give her the heads up and let her know my plan. Then I pulled up in Mom's drive, trying not to be visible from the kitchen window. And I honked.

Inside, my sister said, "Mom, there's somebody honking in your driveway." My mother said or thought something like, "Who would be honking in my driveway? No one would do that." And she came outside.

By then, I had stepped out of the car, and when Mom came around the corner from the front, I said, "Surprise!" Mom screamed. And screamed. And sorta jumped up and down. And cried. And I gave her a huge hug.

She screamed and cried a little more, and I kept hugging. She kept saying something like, "I never dreamed you would be here!"

It was great.

The stars were all aligned this year for this to work. Most years, graduations occur on Mom's Day weekend. Future weekends might find me needing to do graduation things with my students. Being thirteen instead of eight hours away by car also will have an impact on spontaneity in the future. But this year, it worked beautifully.

Anyway, I got to see Mom's gorgeous remodeled deck---complete with high ceiling, with fans, and beautiful furniture. We spent most all of the weekend outside on the deck, barely doing anything in the house other than sleeping.

On Saturday, we just enjoyed visiting. Charla handled burgers for dinner, and my brother and his girlfriend arrived not too late, and we went ahead and gave mom her Mother's Day gift.

A while back, while talking to mom about her deck remodeling, I asked about ceiling fans, and she had them. I asked about something else, and she had it. Then I asked about outdoor speakers. And she said, "Ooooh. that'd be so great to have." So my brother and I enlisted my sister and her hubby to find good speakers. And they did. They're Sharper Image outdoor wireless speakers. A thing plugs into Mom's TV, and she can get the satellite music channels on her back deck! And the sound of the speakers is wonderful.

Sunday, most of us slept a little late. (especially my sister and me; we'd stayed up visiting until after 3. (par for our course)) My nieces and Mom handled putting together a great breakfast spread on the deck---set up to encourage grazing and getting a bite as you wanted. we again just hung out on the deck, visiting, etc.

Later in the day, we played some games, and even did a little silly dancing. All the while, Mom had her hands (and lap) full with three cute little dogs---two of my sister's and one of my brother's. (My brother brought the large dog too, but he didn't exactly make a home in Grandma's lap.)

Then finally, it was time to make dinner! (Well, it was supposed to be lunch, but, oh well.) My brother had brought crabs, and we had a grand crab boil. The poor crabs, of course. It looks as if these two are quite perturbed with their predicament. I see the one on the left as just darned angry at the other one, and the one on the right is either threatening the one who will dare to cook him or pleading for mercy. You decide. ;-) Regardless, whatever pleading the crab tried, it didn't work. Charla did at least wave adios as he took a hot bath.