Sisters and Surprises.

Who doesn’t love a surprise?  Well, I participated in many this weekend.  Both as a surpriser and to my surprise—a surprisee!

It was our daughter LeAnna’s 50^th birthday.  LeAnna is my husband’s youngest child and she was 22 when I married her Dad.   My daugher, Roberta, was 16.  LeAnna took her under her wing and they became friends as well as sisters. (I don’t know if LeAnna enjoyed acting 16 again or Berta enjoyed acting like she was over 21). Their adventures are another whole blog so I won’t digress.

When LeAnna was approaching her 50^th birthday on Sept. 20 of this year her sister-in-law Brenda planned a surprise party for Friday, the day of her birthday.  My daughter Berta could not come from California that day to surprise her sister—yes, they consider themselves REAL sisters— heartwarming to say the least to Don and I....once again I digress.

So..Berta and Maribelle flew in secretly on Wednesday.  Berta made arrangements with LeAnna’s boss at UOPhx to have LeAnna NOT show up for work that day.  The plan was for Berta to be in LeAnna’s bedroom when she awoke on Thursday and whisk her off to a spa for the day.  My treat was getting a day with Maribelle, (age 4 ½..going on 13.). Another digression I wil spare you at this time.

As it turned out, we drove to LeAnna’s house at 7:30 am when she normally takes Emma to school (3^rd grade. ) We drove past her house and parked on the other side of the street....the stake-out.  As Berta said, we needed Styrofoam cups of coffee in hand like the real cops do it.  When she came out of her house, I yelled “Duck”. Even   tho she wasn’t even looking our way...she probably heard us with my big mouth.  But she didn’t see or hear us.

When LeAnna and Emma drove out of their driveway, we followed them to the school parking lot, trying to keep our distance yet not let her car out of our sight—what we didn’t count on were so many other parents driving the same route and keeping us from a close follow at the turn.

When LeAnna walked Emma into the school, we crouched behind the grill of her car and watched for her return. As she approached her car, we started singing” Happy Birthday” and jumped up.  She was SOOOOO surprised.  We thought we better sing a happy song....otherwise she might think something terrible had happened to someone in the family.  She kept saying, “I need to go to work” and we said, “no you don’t”....but unknown to us or her immediate supervisor who we made the arrangements with, LeAnna had a meeting with her bosses’ boss...the BIG boss..  A phone call took care of that.  Being the “good famiy man” he was, he was totally cool with it and bought into the surprise gift.

So it WAS a great day...and then Friday night LeAnna had another surpise coming –the party at her brother and sister-in-laws.  She thought they were dropping Emma off there while she and Robert went to dinner.  But in fact it was a party including a surprise visit from her mother and aunt from Colorado...and her niece Courtney from Seattle.  This was a total surprise....to US too.  We were told she could not find a work replacement (just started a new job there in Sept.) 

They had placed a big gift wrapped box in the living room which could be seen from the front door...and when LeAnna came in, Courtney popped out of the box like a jack –in-the-box.   A wonderful amazing moment.

And speaking of amazing, LeAnna truly is.  She’s a wonderful mom, wife, daughter, sister, and aunt.  She juggles a full-time stressful job with her family responsibilities and is always there for whoever needs her.  To my continual joy, she calls me “bonus mom”.

But when it comes to daughters, I think I got the BONUS. A double bonus with two dear girls. Happy Birthday  LeAnna and many many more in good health.  May you be showered with many more happy surprises.