God created her, I carried her, now she is my happiness and my laughter.

Sunday, September 28, 2014

The Surprise Van

Wow! I didn't think I would ever have time to sit down and write this post. It took a long Sunday afternoon at the zoo and Jacey refusing to sleep at a friend's house and needing to come home and go to bed; therefore missing evening service to even make me feel like I had some time to sit down and write.   (You can tell it's been a while because of the run-on sentence.) I dream of being a full time writer. I'm not off to a great start with that goal. However, I press on, making tiny steps towards the goal with these simple, little, delayed blogs.

It all started on a rainy, cloudy day……ok, you're right, that's ridiculous in Arizona. But, don't most stories sound better when you start that way? I really don't remember what the weather was or really even what day it was when mom first let it slip that she and dad were going to Indiana. I was sitting at the kitchen table. She was standing at the counter. Dad had been home for a while and mom blurted out, "I made the reservations today. Mom and Dad said they could pick us up in Indianapolis."

I looked up appalled by what I had just heard. "What?! You are going to see grandma and grandpa? Even when they are coming here in November?"

Mom put on her best poker face. (Which fooled me.) "Ya, we decided to just go there and enjoy some time just the two of us with them. Dad needed a green-fix." She paused; but then continued most likely due to the astounded look still on my face. "We didn't tell you cuz we didn't want you getting upset that you couldn't go."

It was the perfect lie. I truly would have been and was upset that I couldn't go. I have a special bond with my grandparents that my other siblings didn't get to make with them because I lived with them for a summer. It truly was the best and only memorable summer of my life. In that one summer, my grandma taught me so much about the kitchen, the garden and boys. And I got to see Grandpa's patience working with me up close and personal. He is such a wise man. I did not treat them well that summer. I was still in my rebellious stage, but I sure do love them so much more now having had that special time with them. Nothing excites me more than going and visiting either of my grandparents.

"Well, you know I couldn't go even if I wanted to." I concluded to mom and really that was the end of that conversation.

Now I'm not sure when the best time it is to slip in this important note so I'll just put it here: a few weeks prior to all this, I had called my grandpa and asked him his advice on what family car I should get. I told him I wanted an SUV type vehicle that would be easy to get the kids in and out of. He did not hesitate to tell me how much he liked his own van. It had been their second mini van and both had treated them well. It had many features that were great for families with kids. I hung up the phone that day feeling disappointed he didn't suggest the Avalanche or the Equinox. But, deep down inside I knew it was time to embrace my motherhood and become the soccer mom. I thought I would use my next tax return on a new vehicle. I knew I had to follow my grandpa's advice, too, or I would never hear the end of it.

I really didn't think about my parents going to Indiana again until I was at their house one Saturday morning and they received a surprise visit from the assistant pastor and his wife. Through small talk and lunch invites my mom was forced to bring up the fact that they were going to Indiana. The Howards had many friendly, casual questions on the topic including how they would travel. My dad piped in with out thinking and said, "We're flying there but driving back."

I honestly thought absolutely nothing strange about this. I did say, "You're driving?" But it didn't actually surprise me. My parents often times take road trips and enjoy them. I expected them to fly round trip but the comment didn't throw me. My mom, however, assumed I would be suspicious and followed my dad's comment with, "What do you mean we're driving?!"

My dad gave the perfect cover, really. He simply and casually said, in the way only my dad could, "Well, we don't HAVE to drive."

I might have thought about how strange the driving comment was if I had remembered that my mom already mentioned booking tickets so there should have been no reason for my dad to suggest driving. But, with the Howard's visit coming to a close and the dog barking in another room I honestly didn't think anything of it. The Howards left and I had no reason to bring the topic back up.

I was clearly oblivious or else just in my own world because even when I asked my mom when they were getting back from Indian and she said, "Oh, Friday or Saturday." I asked surprised, "Don't you know? Aren't you flying?" And she answered quickly, "Oh, ya, Saturday." I still didn't think anything was up. It was extremely out of character for my mom to not have all the details sorted out but my own life's business kept me preoccupied, I guess. After all, Mom had been known to be showing signs of losing it lately.

The time came for mom and dad to leave. They arranged a way to the airport. It did not seem strange that they did not arrange a way home. In the back of my mind I always assumed I would pick them up when they got home. Through out their time in Indiana my dad posted pictures of all that they were doing there. At one point he posted a picture of an eatery which he loved that was quite a distance from my grandparents. I do not recall if I made a comment on the picture, but I do remember thinking that it was awfully far out of their way to go to that diner. I suppose I didn't question it because my dad truly would drive miles for their pork….or roast….or steak….something he really likes there. Pulled pork sandwich?

On Saturday morning mom texted me to see what we were up to. I knew they were due home that day and I assumed she was wanting to make airport pick up arrangements. I told her we had just gotten done with gymnastics and asked when they were arriving and if they needed a ride. She never responded so I assumed they had to get on the plane. I figured they would be home that evening, what with the air time and all.

If nothing else that had happened could stir curiosity of a lie, the fact that mom stepped into my home while I was wiping rice off of Jacey's clothes about an hour later should have immediately told me that something was up. I didn't really stop what I was doing. I figured she came to surprise the kids with her arrival. She came in the house alone so I figured she must have dropped dad off at home and then wanted to see the kids so badly that she came all the way back into town. It's so silly thinking back on it. Then she said something about taking the kids out to see dad and I thought, "Does my house smell so awfully of cats that he can't even come in and say hello?" But, alas, I needed to dump the rice from Jacey's shirt in the driveway. I was on a rice cleansing mission as I walked out into the garage. I said hi to dad and was slightly taken aback by my sister, Liz and her husband Josh also being there. They were all standing oddly on the other side of David's car. Liz had her camera which was strange but then Liz was a photographer at heart and it wasn't that odd for her to have her camera.  As I stepped out into the driveway, walked past the new white van in my driveway, and went to the side to dump the rice I kept thinking, "Wow, everyone wanted to see mom and dad pretty bad. I didn't think they were gone long enough for such a grand reunion. Do I not love my parents as much as my other siblings?! Should I be more excited? And furthermore, why did they rent this big van to get home from the airport? It seems awfully inconvenient since now someone is going to have to take them back there to drop it off. Surely mom knows I could have picked them up even if we had been at gymnastics."

These are ALL the thoughts running through my head as I'm taking care of Jacey's rice situation. Then I turn around and I see Dad has his phone out in camera mode as well. That's when I knew. (THAT is when I knew. Not any of those other obvious times ha ha) I knew something was up and it had to do with me. Some type of surprise. "It must be the van. But, could it be? How did it get here? Had they decided while in Indiana that I was such a great daughter I deserved a van? Wait….they must have driven the van back from Indian. Yes, that was it. But why? They already got me a car and it was running fine."

All these thoughts happened in a matter of a half a second. And no sooner had I had them someone, I forget who was the first, finally spilled the beans and relieved me of my wonderings by telling me it was Grandma and Grandpa's van. I remembered their van being blue so I had not thought of that at all. I started to cry, feeling overwhelmed by generosity, curiosity and frankly deceit….no just kidding about that. I couldn't wait to hash out the details and laugh at how obvious it had been and it went completely over my head. Turns out Dad had saved pictures for the drive back and posted them to make us all think they were still in Indiana. I did manage to hold back the tears as it's always weird when one goes off bawling on camera. Really ruins the mood for everyone involved. Everyone (except David) started talking a mile a minute, joking, telling the story, wondering what was going through my head. And all this time Jacey is wondering around shirtless.

The van has truly been an unexpected blessing and a godsend. It wasn't hard at all embracing mother hood and playing the part of soccer mom. I found I was excited to drive it because it smelled of and held memories of my grandparents. Emma loves it. She has four seats to choose from.

The next day was Sunday and when we were about to leave I asked Emma, "Should we take the car or the new van?" She chose the van, of course.

Thank you God for blessing me when I least deserve it. Thank you grandma and grandpa for the wonderful, free and loving gift. Thank you Mom and Dad for being willing to drive it back.

And there's the final story!