For a month, I have been trying to plan the ultimate surprise for my parents 40th wedding anniversary. I felt at first that we failed as their children because we had poor planning, no real initiatives, and our "own" agenda for what we thought our parents wanted. Back and forth we went between my sister and brother about all the things we thought they wanted and finally my mother stated she just wanted to have her children together!
This is perhaps the longest story in history, and it has been a very long three days, but after careful planning we finally arrived, two out of three children, six out of seven grandchildren to surprise my parents for an unexpected surprise party which went off with quite a few hitches!
I am very tired and will actually write in detail the events that took place at another time. They are quite extraordinary as we all had reality set in within a months time frame of planning this vacation.
In the process myself and my sister both got unexpected jobs, and my brother returns to school tomorrow so the timing of this didn't quite mesh with date in which we needed to pull this off.
11 hours of driving, six children in a car together with two adults later, we arrived to what was the "most" dramatic surprise in the history of life! My parents actually had no clue we were coming, and when we arrived they though someone was breaking into the house, relationships were tested to the brink of disaster and temperament came to an all time high as we all tried to make this moment the most beautiful! Let's end it by saying that this was a weekend out parents will "NEVER" forget.
I am briefly touching on a lot moments that really need full detail because again, I can't "make this stuff up", the things that take place in my life, the situations are really too crazy for reality. But like I said I am so damn tired, I can't truly give justice to the story right now. So I will leave you all in suspense of the details until further notice. But I do want to talk about a few moments that have been the most impactful on this journey!
Family is truly unconditional. Love is truly unconditional. AND...when you combine the two, it is the most powerful feeling in the world. I have learned in the past 24 hours that when you truly love someone deeply, and are truly hurt, provoked, or tormented by the obscurity of menial perils, its easy to walk away and lack conviction. But what truly makes family great is the ability to say what you feel, mean what you say, say all the wrong things, work through the anger and know that in the end, all you really want is the love that you feel for each other to prevail.
I said to my parents today, did you really expect o get "all this" 40 years ago? And they simply responded by reiterating how important it was to at least have all the love under one roof no matter how tumultuous it was .
I sat with my father tonight who showed me pictures of his elementary school reunion and I saw my parents in a whole new light! I realized that life is too damn short to "sweat the small stuff"! I realized that in the end the only [people you have are your family! In 70 years the only one standing by your side is your spouse, and in the end, if you don't have love, you have NOTHING at all!
So thank you Lord Jesus for showing me that I still have a lot to learn about love, faith and redemption. I still have a lot to learn about humility, understanding and acceptance. I still have a lot to learn about unconditional love, free will and choices! And thank you Jesus for giving an amazing husband who has given me the amazing children. I look to my 40 year anniversary and can't wait to see where those moments of my life with my boys will take me, and I look forward to the lessons I will learn 40 years from now!
I promise to include the fun details of this thought provoking journey, but tonight, I am filled with only words of enlightenment!
I wish you all a blessed day, and a life of happiness and love!
