Surprise

I was able to do something a couple of days ago that I'd never done before: I surprised my parents with an unexpected visit for Thanksgiving. After spending the previous couple of weeks preparing myself to not be home for the holiday, I found out my schedule at Starbucks and began scheming the surprise.

I was scheduled to work Wednesday from 7:45am-1:15pm and then today, Friday, from 6:15 pm-close. I checked Southwest's website for flights from San Antonio to Nashville or Birmingham. I also checked American Airlines flights to Huntsville, Alabama. Southwest had available flights on both Wednesday and Friday that fit my time constraints. So, less than a week before Thanksgiving, I booked travel and set up my stealth arrival.

I left the mall and went straight to the airport Wednesday. I had to park behind the full parking garage and trek to stand in line at the airport. After waiting in line 30 minutes or so, I made it past security, grabbed lunch, and waited to board my flight. My cousin Paul was driving from Nashville to Florence with his daughter Lucy, so they picked me up at the airport and escorted me to Flotown. Even the timing at the Nashville airport was perfect; I called as I was coming down the escalator to head outside right as Paul drove up, so I didn't even wait for him and he didn't have to spend anytime circling the airport. We did have to wait quite a bit of traffic since it was 5:00, but we still made it to my house by 7:45 (almost an hour of that was due to congestion in Nashville).

Paul dropped me off at my house. Dad was in Birmingham for one of his law school classes and Mom, Anna, and Bethany were at church. I walked up to the door with my keys and realized I left my house key in San Antonio and had no way to get inside. I also knew that Mom and the girls would be going to Grandma's after church, so I didn't have a way to get in for a while. Except, I remembered a way to get in the house through the garage that takes a bit of acrobatic skill: a window in the garage door. This window is 17 inches wide and 13 inches tall. It's been used previously by Luke, Bethany, me and my Mom to get inside when we've been locked out. The trick (well, Luke has his own way to do this) is to stand on something so that you can reach through the window and grab onto one of the rafters in the garage. When you've got both hands on a rafter, you twist your body through the window so that you are supporting yourself with your arms and sitting on the window with your legs hanging outside. From there, it's the simple matter of lifting yourself up and bringing your legs through and dropping on the floor. In the dark.

(Luke and I video'd ourselves doing this last night, so I'll post that clip soon so you can see what I'm attempting to describe.)

Anyway, I got inside, put my things away and took Bethany's car to Grandma's for the surprise. Knowing that Mom would be suspicious about Bethany's car at Grandma's, I wondered if the surprise might be thwarted. Luckily, she thought Dad had come back early from law school to try to surprise them. She walked into the house asking, "I wonder who's here?" expecting my Dad to be waiting in the kitchen. She was completely shocked when I met her with a big smile and hug. (I'd also surprised Grandma when I showed up earlier.)

We stayed out there for a while. When we got home, Dad was already at the house. He was downstairs with Luke (who showed up earlier than expected), so he too was surprised when he saw me at the top of the stairs waiting for him. Great, fun times.

I didn't have to miss turkey and dressing and all of our family was able to be together for the first time in at least half a year. Fortunately, it won't be that long until the next time, just a month away. And then, we'll be gearing up for Anna's wedding.