I'm sitting in the "customer lounge" at Darling's Ford, waiting for them to finish working on the van; it needed some parts, but had to be ordered, so now that they are in, here I am.......follow that? ha I have to say that I really like the van. So far, so good. But, since it was used, there were a few things that needed to be fixed; nothing major, thank goodness, but just a few non-threatening things like a broken handle for putting the "third seat" down, and things like that. They are very nice here, so at least I'm not dealing with any attitudes!! I don't think I could handle that right now.
Anyway, I'll now catch up about Katie's birthday surprise.........Every year since Katie has been in college, Alex and I have surprised her on her birthday. The first two years, he was still in high school, so we would think of ways to involve her friends at college, even though we didn't really know them. Once he started going to UMF, it was a lot easier. The first year, I was able to get the names of a few of her friends, and with the help of the RA (Resident Assistant) I got a few phone numbers. Alex and I were able to surprise her at her friend's apartment, where she and a few others were going to have an afternoon of watching Veggie Tales movies. We were hidden in a bedroom off the living room, and when everyone was settled in to watch the movie, we were given the 'signal' to come out---I lit the candles, and Alex carried it from the bedroom to the living room and we all sang Happy Birthday! I, of course, took pictures; that was my job! She was so surprised and so totally did not expect to see us that she didn't even realize the person carrying the cake was Alex, or even that I was there!! It was soooooo great!!! The next year, we surprised her by knocking on the door of her dorm-room, with the candles lit just before we knocked. She didn't expect us again because it was a school day. The next year, Alex was in his first year there, and since they are in the same buiding--just different wings--we used his room as the "staging area", and were able to go right down the hall to knock on her door and sort of surprise her. By this time, she sort of expected something, but didn't know when it would happen. Last year, she knew I'd do it again, so she told me not to have lit candles since they are against the rules and didn't want to get the nice janitors upset. So, when Alex and I surprised her at their Christian Fellowship meeting ( the evening before her b'day) I had candles with stars as the flame. She was very surprised because she didn't expect me to be there the day before, AND she really didn't expect that I would do it at the meeting! ha ha....I have no idea why she'd doubt that I'd do something crazy like that. It was a huge help that Alex is part of the group, but even if not, I'd still have found a way to do it!! The whole group was singing happy birthday....that was fun.
This year, the final year we can do it since she graduates this May, we had t think of something really different and that she'd never, never expect. She knew I'd be down there, but the surprise factor had to be the "where". Sooooo, Alex and I thought and thought and we came up with the cafeteria. I had thought of going to the school where she's student teaching, but Alex didn't think that was good idea to interrupt the class, or even to go to the school in the teacher's lounge would have been not really fun for Katie. Besides the fact that he didn't get out of class until 3:30; he would have figured something out time-wise, but he just didn't like the idea of it being at the high school. (after talking to Katie later that night, she said he was right, and she wouldn't have liked it as much as how we did it. She's too new there, and would have felt out of place there. As usual, Alex was right. That's why I listen to him!) So, we came up with the idea of the Dining Hall at the college. He talked to the guy who runs it in the evenings, and he gave us the OK to be there, and to even have lit candles!!! yay!! However, since Alex and Katie usually go to dinner together on Fridays, the trick was going to be how to get Alex back in the kitchen with me so he can carry out the cake...with the lit candles. It's been the tradition every year that he does that, and I didn't want to back down on that part of it for the final year. Besides, I have to take the pictures! Alex and I were finalizing the plans as I was driving down there (love cell phones!!). He was able to get in touch with one of their friends, and she and her roommates asked Katie to go to dinner with them, since Alex "had already eaten with his music study partner" (not really, but that's what he told Katie). Once everyone was settled, Marissa came back into the kitchen to get us. We stopped near the soda fountains to light the candles, and the dessert lady (no idea who she is, but she was nice) wanted to walk over to the table with us and sing happy birthday. Sure...the more the merrier!! So, I'm pretty much walking backwards so I can take pictures of Alex and the cake, Marissa, who had the flowers (also another tradition---every year Katie gets flowers), was walking really fast, the Dessert Lady starts singing Happy Birthday when we are not quite to the table, that makes the whole cafeteria join in, Katie is SO NOT expecting us because she "just knew" I'd be there the next day (Saturday) since I was "doing emergency paperwork for a cadet at the Base" (not really, but that's what I had told her when she called me as I was driving down to Farmington!), so Katie thinks that someone else in the cafeteria is getting the happy birthday song, then all of a sudden it hits her that the song is for HER!!! ha ha ha ha ha ha ha It was great.
This final year's planning was the most last-minute of all the years so far. It turned out great, but it will definitely be remembered. Another part of the surprise was to get her home for the weekend so she could help make the chocolate Easter Eggs that All Souls church makes and sells as a fund raiser for their mission trips. She was really sad that she couldn't be home to help, so I planned on bringing her home for the weekend. She was so excited. However, instead of leaving Saturday morning, it was still early enough once we had eaten so we left right after dinner and got home about 9 or so. Saturday, she and Alex helped with the eggs, then I made another round-trip on Sunday to get them back to UMF. They will be home again this Friday since it's Winter Break next week. Yay....a whole week home!!
It's so much fun surprising her. Love you Katie-girl!!!!!
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