#942 - Surprise

I Did It!

I successfully surprised my hubby! I am horrible at surprising people because inevitably I'll forget to cover my tracks on a minor detail and the cat will come jumping out of the bag! But this time, I did it! What was the surprise? I met Daniel and the Peru team at the Houston airport on Saturday morning!

So to some that may not seem too exciting, but I live in small town Northeast Texas, I have two small children, and I'm 2.5 hours away from the closest major airport (DFW). When Daniel first started going to Peru two years ago, I thought it would be really neat if sometime I could meet him at the airport when he flew back in. The catch, though, is they fly into Houston (which is 4 hours away from us) at 6:20 IN THE MORNING! So, I knew I'd have to somehow get there Friday night and find a place to stay.

When my mother-in-law said she was going to come stay with us for a few days toward the end of the week, I thought, this is my chance! So I started planning. I looked into renting a car and driving down there, I checked flights out of smaller airports that are closer to us (outrageously priced!), and then I checked flights out of DFW. I found one for $43!!! I knew I could stay in a hotel near the airport and just ride the shuttle to/from, but my last big hurdle to overcome was how to get to the DFW airport. I didn't want my m-i-l to have to drive me (and the kids) the 5 hours round-trip. I asked several friends if they had any plans to go to Dallas that weekend, and none of them did. So, I mentioned my idea of going to Houston to my m-i-l. She's a great problem-solver, so I knew she'd be able to help me figure it out. She called her brother who lives just north of Dallas, and sweet Uncle Scott agreed to meet me halfway if someone could get me to Greenville, TX. My m-i-l said she'd drive me there, but when I mentioned it to my sweet friend, Jamie, she volunteered to do it. Yay! My plan was working! I quickly went online and bought my airline ticket and hotel room.

I made all of these plans the day Daniel left for Peru, so once it was all nailed down, I knew the excitement of what was to come would get me through the week without my other half. And it did! The kids and I were alone for 6 days (in some moments it felt like 6 months), my m-i-l came and then a day and a half later, I was headed to Houston! Not everything went quite as planned on my trip down (2-hour delay in leaving Dallas, 20 minute sit on the tarmac in Houston because there wasn't a gate to park at, and waiting almost an hour for the hotel shuttle at midnight knowing I had to be right back there in 6 hours), but the ultimate goal was met and I successfully surprised my man! Thank you, thank you to all who were involved in helping me pull this off!