Surprise!

Today (which because this is a surprise will be days ago) was wonderful! This morning I packed as quickly as possible and went to a meeting to talk about getting my little Partner to mentor. Worked from 12-6 and then took off! After two terrible hours of super slick driving conditions, too many coffees and a very long phone conversation, I am in the land of the Mormon! Let me tell you, getting to this hotel almost made me a believer. As Toby peed on the No Vacancy sign and looked at the flashing lights on the church billboard I think I saw "oh, thank you Jesus." in his mind too. We are checked in and ready to crash, tomorrow is a 5am jump in the car and go if I want to make it in time.

Surprise!

My dad and a few other conspirators have a history of surprising me. I think I was 10 when I got the first one. Cynthia took me out shopping and I remember her coming to the house, picking me up in a little red convertible. We pulled back up to the house and things were a little weird, she seemed excited and my dad was already outside waiting. As I went inside everyone and I do mean EVERYONE yelled, "Surprise!" On my 17th birthday my dad kept asking and asking what I was doing, who was I with, where was I going. In the Target swimsuit section, I got a tap on the shoulder and (the very odd) a "Can I buy you a swimsuit?" which resulted initially in excitement and quickly became a scream and crying....you can imagine the looks two teenagers and a guy in his 40's were getting in the swimsuit section. Graduation was a biggy when Cynthia showed up in tow with my dad, lots of tears here as well. All of these surprises have left me skipping town on my birthday to avoid being surprised for fear that I will break down crying in front of a room full of people. So I figured it was my turn to return the favor. The big fears were that, one- my dad would be trying to surprise me and be here while I was there, two- that I would get stuck in traffic etc. and be late and he will have left work making finding him somewhere in Orange County difficult, and three- that being as similar to him as I am, that he would figure it out.

Well....it worked. After fourteen hours, four coffees, two redbulls (Sam you were right), and a little insider help, I walked into Nordhavn headquarters. As I walked in the front door three Leishman boys stood questioning and I quickly shushed them before sneaking around the corner and into my dads office. He stood jaw dropped, quietly, papers falling from his hands and there may or may not have been a tear. This, ladies and gentleman, is how you do a surprise. After all what do we have to be thankful for if not out families?