Pulling Off the Surprise of the Century

Warning: This is a semi-long post. Don’t abandon it!

So, you may recall that for the past six years or so, some friends and I have gotten together on Labor Day Weekend for our annual “Chanda Reunion.” I lived with these girls when I did a semester abroad in London, and we have remained such great friends. Our very special group friendship is truly an incredible blessing that I try not to take lightly or take for granted. I could go on forever about how grateful I am for these girls, but then it would take me a long time to get to the title of this post.

As a small piece of background before I get to the “Surprise of the Century,” let me say that we had our usual Chanda Weekend in September 2008. We thought it would be our last time for a while with Sarah as she and her husband are moving to South Africa in August (2009). Sarah had a sweet baby girl about two months ago, and the rest of us were going crazy thinking about not meeting her before they moved.

[Enter the idea for the surprise...]

Sweet Cathleen brought up the idea, and the others of us jumped on board faster than we could send back Facebook messages to say, “Let’s do it!” We decided on a surprise March visit to see Sarah in Raleigh, NC. Remember, the rest of us girls live in Florida, so this would be quite the trek. The girls got the whole surprise arranged with Sarah’s husband, Casey and we were set. Shanel told Sarah she wanted to have pizza delivered for dinner one night since she lived so far and wasn’t able to bring them a meal (to help after having the baby). That “one night” would just happen to be the night we’d arrive. Brilliant.

So…last Friday we began the trip from Orlando to Raleigh. Shanel, Cathleen and I met up with Katie and her little girl Layne in Jacksonville and then started to head north. I drove the whole way from Jacksonville to Raleigh. We made one stop…that’s right ONE. We stopped for gas, and to borrow a table at the local Wendy’s where we proceeded to make our own turkey sandwiches and eat our lunch.

Shanel texted Sarah around 5pm to tell her that the pizza would be delivered by 6pm. Oh, and it was delivered by 6pm alright…by four of her closest friends! We picked up the pizza, drove to their house and knocked on the door. Sarah was SHOCKED. I don’t even really know the best way to describe it, but it was really one of the coolest things I think I’ve ever been a part of. After she realized she wasn’t dreaming, we sat down to enjoy dinner.

For the rest of the weekend, we did what we normally do…sit around, watch dumb TV shows, eat crap (seriously…crap = white trash sugar goodness, queso, cookies, etc, etc), wear pajamas, play cards, laugh, talk, catch up, laugh, enjoy each other. From the time we drove into Raleigh until after we left it didn’t stop raining and I don’t think it ever got above 45 degrees (quite a change from our normal beach weekends), but we couldn’t have cared less. It was amazing.

I am thankful…

• for friends…
• for laughter…
• for common ground…
• for surprises…
• for sweet husbands who help pull off surprises of the century…
• for sweet husbands who understand the importance of their wives’ friends and time with them…
• for friends who are moms and wives, but who don’t sit around and talk about mom and wife stuff all day…
• for friends who are ok with sitting around in pajamas all day…
• for good gas mileage…
• for the kind of friends who always, always, always pick up right where they left off.

I love you, girls! CHANDA FOREVER!

Chanda Reunion 2011: South Africa or Bust!  (Katie, do you think the Camry will make it there?!)

And, a couple of pictures…

Making & Eating Turkey Sandwiches in Wendy's

Couch. Pajamas. White Trash Snack. Pretty Chandas. Wonderful.

Sarah and the Newest Chanda, Kieren.

 

Chanda...Shanel, Katie, Me, Sarah, Cathleen.

Check out Katie’s blog for her perspective. 

 

And check out Sarah’s blog for her thoughts on the big surprise!