Surprises, or trying to at least.

Do any of you struggle to keep a surprise? If you're like me, I can't keep one past 24 hours. If I buy Camm a present, I give it to him that day. If I have something special planned, I can't keep it in. Surprises are just too hard for me.

Camm's birthday happened while I was still in Utah but he'd already moved to Oregon. I felt badly that he had to spend his birthday alone in a town where he really didn't know anyone. I wanted to make his day special, but I didn't know how (being that I was 693 miles away). I had forgotten to send him something in the mail to arrive on his birthday. I couldn't send him flowers...he's a guy. My mom suggested I order him pizza and pre-pay over the phone. Genius! I called the pizza place and arranged to have it delivered at 11:45am.
I called Camm before I went to work that day to wish him a happy birthday.
"So I got out of the shower and realized I had absolutely no clean underwear," he explained, "So I'm in a towel until the laundry is done." I laughed it off and we ended the conversation.

Then, on my way to work I began to panic. I glanced at the clock: 11:30am. If the doorbell rang, there's no way Camm would answer it naked. But I couldn't tell Camm because it was a surprise.
I called Camm back, "Uh, Camm, you have to get dressed RIGHT NOW!"
"But you know I have no clean underwear," he was confused at my forcefulness, "It'll be ready before too long."
"Go without, or wear it wet, I don't care. BUT GET IT ON NOW!"
"Moll, why do you care so much?" my mind raced but I couldn't figure out how to keep it a surprise but still get him to answer the door.
"Consider this your 15 minute warning. Camm, get it on," I hung up the phone. Had I done it successfully? Had I kept it a surprise but made sure that he would answer?

15 minutes later my phone rang.
Laughter followed by laughter followed by laughter. He couldn't even talk. Finally he came up for air, "Thanks Moll. Great job."

I did it! He wasn't expecting anything, just thought that I was crazy, but when the doorbell rang, he knew it was time to answer. Success!

Am I the only one who has a hard time keeping surprises secret? Tell me about your experiences!

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Salsa^6 Surprise

Setting: Cold, dark, Sunday night: February 26th, 2012--the night before I began life as a big 25 year old.We were in our church gym sitting in the famous church folding chairs:

 

It was a little Sunday social that my congregation had monthly--a chance to get to know each other and have a snack. This month's snack were chips and salsa. So there we were eating our chips and salsa with Ruby happily playing on the floor:

After I finished my first bowl, Ruby started to get a little bit tired. I suggested to Camm that we leave to put Ruby to bed, but he informed me that he needed another bowl of chips. I decided to be patient and let him get another one as I tried to keep Ruby calm.

What surprised me was how SLOWLY he ate that bowl. It was as though he'd never had chips before and he savored every one in his mouth. When he finally finished it, I suggested we leave. "You know Moll, I really want some more." Ok, though Ruby was getting fussy, I thought I could handle it. Just one more, right?

Again, I could count to 100 in between each nibble. I stared at him wondering how he could eat so slowly. When he FINALLY finished, I thought we were free. "You know what Moll, this is really good. I'm going to get some more," he explained. I began to lose that patience I thought I could keep. I was dancing around trying to keep Ruby under control.

"OK, Camm, we have salsa at home. When you're done with this bowl, we HAVE to go."

"No Moll, I think I just need one more bowl."

"Camm, look around you. No one else has even had seconds. And you are having fifths?"

"Yeah, it's really good. and I need to help them get it off their hands. What are they going to do with the leftover salsa anyway?"

Ruby was mad, I was confused.

You'd think five bowls would have been enough, but he slowly downed his sixth bowl. I decided to stop asking him if he would ever finish and figured that I may as well get out a sleeping bag and camp out in the church. But, before I could make any specific plans, Camm stood up and said, "OK, let's go." It was so abrupt that it caught me by surprise. I looked at the clock--seven o' clock sharp. We got in the car and we drove the four blocks home. When we pulled up Camm honked then started laughing. "Uh, what's going on Camm?" He didn't respond. I walked into my house and:

SURPRISE!!!!

Camm had thrown me a surprise birthday party and inside were a bunch of my friends/family. 

The salsa fury in my mind immediately turned to joy as I realized it had all been part of the plan!

Thanks to Camm for planning an awesome 25th birthday for me!

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