Surprise! - An unexpected visit.

Kathryn with her two grandchildren on her birthday.

I can keep a secret, but not from my wife.  That is, until yesterday, when my son and his family showed up at our house to the complete and utter shock to my wife, whose birthday is today.

He had planned this for months, and I was in on it.  "We're coming out," he said, "On November 6, for Mom's birthday on the 7th."  So, I had to prepare for this surprise and not let her in on it.  I had to guard my every word to make sure that I didn't betray the trust I was given.  Months of communication with each utterance being carefully examined before the words were on my lips.  And then there were the actions.

Clean the house, floors, rooms, bathrooms, all done without letting on that company was coming.  Shopping, buying goods for the celebration and making sure that none of the contents tipped my hat to the upcoming festivities.  And doing everything a bit at a time so that there was no sense of urgency to the activities.

Normally Kathryn senses when something is up.  We have been married for 36 years and I have never been able to keep her in the dark about some clandestine event.  I have tried to surprise her numerous times and have utterly failed each and every time.  She suspected, knew, deduced, found out.  But not this time.  

My son and his family arrived yesterday afternoon from Leduc.  Kathryn was resting and when he walked in she erupted in such a way that the baby cried from her outburst.  She was in complete surprise, almost shock, that they were all here, and that I had managed to keep it all a secret.

What's funny is that she was talking about what she wanted to do on her special day.  All I could do was to agree it sounded like a good idea and make the arrangements.  Of course, none of her plans came to fruition as the minute her grandchildren showed up all priorities completely changed.  Today we will be going out for dinner, but not where we planned.  In fact, nothing about the day went as she thought it would, and she couldn't be happier.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com

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