SURPRISE!!

There's nothing I love more than surprises, for myself, and especially for others.  I love being involved in the planning (or scheming, if I may) of great surprises.  To me, every aspect about a surprise just makes life that much more enjoyable.  That being said, a surprise has to be done in good taste.  And you have to know the person or people that the surprise is intended for.  First, you need to know whether or not the intended (however many) have enough of a sense of humor that they could sincerely enjoy such things.  Second, you need to know the circumstance (i.e., birthday, wedding, graduation, etc.) and that what you do is appropriate for the occasion and others that may be involved and/or present. 

Take for example my latest, most successful surprise to date.  I flew back from Augusta, GA to Bangkok, Thailand without many of my friends' knowing just in time to surprise them all for New Year.  I had schemed it all along with a friend of mine (who could not make it to the gathering) and had him be my liaison to find out where my friends would be meeting up to celebrate the new year.  He led them to believe that he had nothing to do for the night and was interested in joining them for a fun evening of eating, drinking, and countdown.  All evening, he was in constant correspondence with my gal/organizer friend, Kippe, to keep a close "ear" on their whereabouts. 

When I felt that the time was just ripe, I made my way over to the restaurant where they were sitting down to a dinner and just on the verge of finishing.  I walked in on the gang deep in conversation and threw my arms up in the air as I yelled "Happy New Year!!!"

All further talk was intervened with screams and "Oh my God!", "What are you doing here?", and "How or when did you get here?"  Let's just say, we had the whole establishment looking at us trying to figure out what had just happened.  It was pure delight!

After a few more vocally expressed glee and lots of hugs, we all sat down to an interrogation of how was it that I was there.  Basically, the long story-short, I got a new job and made it back just in time to celebrate New Year's Eve in my favorite city.  I hadn't told anyone, partly because it was kind of sudden and partly because I wanted to surprise everyone and I had my friend/liaison to thank in helping me make it so successful.  :oD