It was a good, good weekend

After a fun-filled weekend I am back in Michigan. God is incredibly kind and is allowing the sun to shine right now which makes my first day back from the South much more enjoyable.

The weekend was fabulous and my mom was completely surprised. I was the first to arrive – my Aunt Sue, who arranged the whole shebang and drove Mom from Atlanta to Myrtle Beach, told Mom they needed to run by the airport for a second and that’s how they got me. I was standing on the curb and I could see the shock on my mom’s face when she finally figured out her daughter really was standing at the arrivals curb of the Myrtle Beach airport. What a face.

We drove from the airport to a restaurant for a quick bite, or so Mom thought. Right as we walked in Aunt Sue’s daughters Amy and Ashley and Sue’s husband Johnny jumped out and said, “Surprise!” I didn’t think Mom could be more shocked than she was at the airport but she was astonished.

Dinner was a wonderful time of catching up; I hadn’t seen Ashley in years and this was the first time I’d met her baby Hannah. We ate and talked and totally enjoyed each other. Afterward we drove to the condo where my sister Heather met us. More shock and awe. And lots and lots of tears.

By this time it was 9 at night and the baby needed to sleep, so we unpacked (after finally getting the key to the condo – don’t ask), put the baby down and spent the next few hours talking. Sue and Johnny mentioned they’d forgotten a few items and wanted to go to WalMart right then to get them. How Mom didn’t catch on at that point I don’t know, but she had no clue her sneaky sister and brother-in-law were on the way back to the airport to pick up my Aunt Corby, Mom’s sister-in-law. (Calling Corby an in-law is just wrong – I wish there were a term for a person who marries into a family and becomes family, not just someone a family member happened to marry. Our family wouldn’t be complete without Corby. Or Johnny, for that matter.)

At that point Mom had her two daughters, sister, sister-in-law, two nieces and one great-niece there to celebrate her birthday. Only one other niece was missing. Little did Mom know Lori would arrive the next morning after working an overnight shift then catching a 5 am flight from D.C. When Lori arrived at 9:30 Friday morning the party officially began.

We talked and ate and talked and walked on the beach and talked and watched a movie and talked some more… it was a fabulously relaxing time with great women who have turned into wonderful friends.

The bottom line: seven people with incredibly busy lives dropped everything, spent quite a few bucks and did whatever it took to make sure my mom knew how much she means to us. It was a little, little thing in comparison to all Mom has done for each one of us over the years.

Happy birthday, Mom! We all love you!

Ashley, Heather, Amy, Sue, Hannah, Mom, Lori, Christy, Corby