Surprises

Do I like surprises? Yeah, once in awhile. I can even live through things like that time my best high school friends decided to set me up with an unforgettable birthday appointment with a helium-balloon-carrying-gorilla-suited-telegram-guy during lunch. Make no mistake, it was not a Saturday and I was not in the comfort of my own home; instead, I was in the cafeteria, that super clique-y place so well described as being the source of so much anxiety in many a teen movie (my fave are the descriptions in Mean Girls, the one and only movie from Lindsay Lohan that I liked).

So imagine me, your geeky four-eyed band camp girl, sitting there at the usual table, quietly eating my lovingly packed homemade lunch from mom (thanks mom!), suddenly aware of the gorilla man opening the doors of the caf, asking who that gorilla might possibly be for and then seeing the shiny, happy, grinning faces of my friends turn towards me.

And of course, my table was not in some corner by the door near one side of the caf. It was at the far end, straight down the middle aisle. The whole school could see me. The whole school stared.

The rest is a bit of a blur, but I do remember getting really hot (and probably quite red in the face), a really large, wrapped box with presents, and hugs from my friends. In the end I survived, and still loved my friends for it. If nothing else, it was a memorable moment, and I got some additional “happy birthdays” from people I didn’t know that day. You could say those were my 15 minutes of fame.

And embarassing story aside, I still do hope for surprises sometimes. Not something extreme like another surprise birthday, but I often ask Khiem to “surprise” me during the holidays. The problem is, he’s not that great at it. He gets too excited and tells me what a wonderful gift he’s gotten me, and then I just can’t help asking and spoiling it all. To his credit, he did a really great job once by convincing me that he bought me a very boring but practical air purifier (because of my allergies) even though he knew I wanted a new winter jacket. When I opened the door to see him standing there empty-handed, I looked earnestly past him to see if I could discern some box or big bag in the car. But no, he just stepped inside, reached into his pocket and pulled out a little something. A little iPod. Nice!

And…I can’t forget the proposal of course! Who knew that Khiem could ever be so romantic? So now I’ve asked Khiem to surprise me yet again. This time it’s for our honeymoon. I’ve given him some criteria and our budget, but he’s supposed to keep the final location under wraps until our wedding day.

But our wedding’s eight months away - can he keep it a secret? Can I keep from snooping around?

~sd