Post 7/30: Surprise!

After keeping it a secret since May, we surprised my mom tonight with an unexpected visit from my brother. He's been living in El Paso since last September, and visited for a couple of weeks in December. He wasn't planning on coming home until next December, but planned this surprise trip during my mom's vacation time. I talk to my mom every single day and it was SO HARD to keep it a secret for so long! I had to make fake plans with her, knowing that they would never happen. I had to pretend to be doing other stuff to cover up what I was really doing. And I had to lie about why David called or why we were going to my aunt's house for dinner. Up until today, we really had no idea how we were going to surprise her, but discussed a few possible ways and decided to play it by ear.

When my brother went to leave his house this morning, his tire was flat. He called a cab and got a ride to the airport, only to be sitting on a plane that wouldn't start! By the time they canceled his flight, he had already missed the next one. He waited for 2 hours in line while the airline re-directed everyone, and ended up going through Denver instead of San Fransisco. So, rather than arriving at 3:10pm as originally planned, he landed at just about 8pm. I was texting him all day trying to keep up to date with his flight. In the meanwhile, we made plans to go to my aunt's house for dinner. But since this is not a usual occurrence, I fibbed and said that my aunt just thought it'd be nice and that we had to go so late at night because she was busy earlier in the day. My mom didn't have a clue!

When there was a knock on the door and my aunt opened it, my mom (who was washing dishes) couldn't believe her eyes!

We spent the evening catching up and laughing, and have plans now for a very busy week! It was probably the most surprised my mom has EVER been! And she was overjoyed! She couldn't stop touching him and looking at him, in total shock that he was really standing right there. Such a great surprise!