For the last month or so, CTLB’s mother and I have been exchanging emails. She wanted to come out to CA from Connecticut to surprise CTLB for our upcoming graduation on Monday. She suggested that I ask CTLB out for a celebratory drink, and she’d be able to walk into whichever bar we were at and surprise her daughter.
This is all easier said than done. First of all, CTLB and I work 1 hour from her home in SF. She and her fiance have 1 car, so she usually leaves around 3:30 or 4pm to go pick him up each afternoon. There isn’t a lot of room for spontaneous suggestions of happy hour drinks. Plus, how was I going to pick a place close enough to the airport for CTLB’s mom to arrive in a cab, yet not throw any suspicion about why we would be getting a drink so far off the beaten path?
I finally had to clue CBCB in on the surprise, to ask her for some suggestions. She graciously offered to pick CTLB’s mom up from the airport and bring her to a pub that was closer to school, where we all often hang out. Whew! Problem solved.
Now all I had to do was make it through these last few weeks without somehow slipping up and mentioning the visit, offhandedly. I was crossing my fingers that our devious plan would work and that CTLB would in fact be surprised by the visit.
Today she and I went to the pub and ordered drinks (yes, I broke the fast, but this was a very good reason, don’t you think?). The entire time we were chit-chatting my heart was beating a mile a minute in anticipation of CTLB’s mom showing up to surprise her.
Then I saw her, coming down the street (we were sitting at a table on the outside patio, with CTLB strategically seated with her back to the entrance. Pretty good planning, no?). CTLB’s mom walked up next to her and said, “can I join you guys for a drink?!!” The look on CTLB’s face was something like this:
It was a mixture of shock, confusion, joy, and WTF is going on around here?!!
The plan worked perfectly, CTLB was surprised, and her mom is going to have ball with her all weekend. I was so relieved that everything worked out and that the two of them were so happy.
Being sneaky for a good cause was really fun! Maybe I have a future as an undercover agent?
I was similarly surprised once. I walked in the door after work to see one of my best friends sitting on my couch. (I moved to FL, she still lives in CT.) It may have been one of my most favorite birthday gifts *ever*. =)