As mentioned in the last post, here's the story of how we told our parents. It involved two fairly big surprises in one weekend. Suffice to say, it's a good thing they both have strong hearts.
My parents both turned 60 in 2006: my mom on Nov 5 and my dad on Nov 6. Crazy, eh? In honor of that milestone, we decided to have a surprise birthday party for them. This wasn't quite as easy as it sounds, given that my dad lives in Florida and my mom lives in Massachusetts. My mom's husband Kevin started organizing the whole shebang, and as part of the surprise, he paid for Marilu and I to fly down from Canada.
Well, a couple of weeks before the event, we found out Marilu was pregnant (more on that in another post). Although we told her parents and some close friends--actually, Marilu told just about anyone she could after the first couple of days--we decided to wait and surprise my parents.
So Kevin got my mom down to Florida on the pretense that they were going to meet up with some Florida friends and then they were flying to a secret location as part of my mom's birthday present. I may have some of the details wrong since I can barely remember what I did 5 minutes ago, let along 6 months ago, but I think that was the jist of it.
On the day we flew in, their friends, Jim and Barb, said that they had to go to airport and pick up this dog that they had bought from someone else. They were sitting in a little food area and my mom's back was to us as we came around the corner from the terminal. Everyone but my mom knew I was coming and saw me, but my mom was oblivious. So I sat down right behind her. She glanced over a few seconds later, took a double take, and then screamed! I thought airport security was going to converge on us it was so loud. Anyway, much hugs and happiness ensued.
We stayed at Jim and Barb's that night, and my dad was going to come out the next day, thinking he was coming to a BBQ with Jim and some of Jim's buddies. When he finally showed up, my mom and Kevin waited in the kitchen and Marilu and I stayed upstairs, where a loft overlooked the living room.
My dad and brother came in, and almost immediately my mom and Kevin popped out surprising them. They were all saying their hi's and hello's so Marilu and I popped our heads out and waited for either my dad or brother to look up. And waited. And waited. Finally, I think it was my mom who grabbed my dad's head and pointed it in our direction. No screams like the airport, but I think the surprise factor was up there.
So there Marilu and I were. We'd surprised both of them by showing up for their 60th birthdays. But the surprises were obviously just beginning. The rest of the story follows shortly in Part 2.
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