Surprise!

Alright, here it is! The promised post of How Bek Surprised Her Bosom Friend For Her Birthday, or I Can't Believe Bek Kept Her Big Mouth Shut For Six Weeks, or Golly, Bek Travels A Long Way to Dye Her Hair. Any of those titles are appropriate, so please feel free to pick your favorite and keep that in mind as you read. Also, I'm sorry this is so text-heavy, but since it was a surprise, I didn't trust myself to take any pictures.

The general scheme was that I would go to Kentucky to surprise AJ for her {early} birthday. Her husband and I messaged on Facebook concerning dates, and then he brought Rachel into the loop as back-up. In the middle of January, I bought my ticket. Great flights, great price, and a great challenge in terms of keeping my mouth shut. As Sherlock would say, the game is on!

Right after I bought my ticket, our office saw a sprinkling of snow. Ugh. I mean, snow is pretty and everything, but not when you're at work and can't go out to enjoy it. Or when you know that nobody knows how to drive in the snow, so traffic will suuuuuuck. So I texted AJ "is your guest room ready?" Her response: "Do not do this to me. Yes it is ready anytime." I laughed like a maniac and texted her back "it's snowing here, so I thought I'd just come to visit. Or we could just meet in Mexico." Hardy har har, Bek. Cruel and unusual.

A couple weeks later, we had a phone date. Greatest challenge ever. But my maniac persona was back, and when AJ told me that they'd had snow on the ground for the past 4 weeks, I proclaimed, "And that is why I don't visit you in February!" I know, my friend-card should be revoked.

Finally, a few days before I left for the Bluegrass State, I texted AJ that "I think I know what I'm going to get you for your birthday" and "I should have it in the mail this week!" Such. A. Tease. But at least I wasn't the only one, because AJ's husband had started hinting at a surprise later in the week.

February 20th started early-early for me, but thankfully everything went smoothly. I gate-checked my bag, so I only had to worry about my backpack. Besides the bouncy guy next to me {whom I promptly told him where he could move his leg...in a really kind voice, I promise}, the flight to Detroit was uneventful. Once I landed, I had a couple hours to walk around and get lunch before my next flight. I got a phone call from an 800 number, but didn't want to deal with whatever they were selling, so I ignored it. Turned out it was the airline telling me my flight to Lexington had been cancelled. Ugh.

Long tedious story {involving several phone calls, barely containing tears of frustration, waiting in line for half my life, running back and forth across the Detroit airport, frantically texting several friends, and trying not to raise my voice} short, I ended up flying into Louisville instead of Lexington. A nice older gentleman offered to share a cab with me {and pay for it all, might I add!} to the Lexington airport, and Rachel the Superhero picked me up there.

Several hours after I had originally planned to be heading to AJ's house, Rachel and I were on our way. Just outside of town at a quarter to 10, I texted AJ: "Hey, are you still up?" Of course she was - her hubs was keeping her up so that she could be surprised! Via text, I asked her if we could have a quick phone date because there was "a situation" I wanted to talk over with her.

Rachel turned off her car's lights and parked in front of AJ's house. I jumped out of the car and tried to keep my voice calm and quiet, even though I was totally shaking with excitement. I pressed the call button. Here is our conversation, word for word, according to my adrenaline-infused memory.

AJ: "Hey, what's up, friend?"

Bek: "Hey, well, I've got this problem. I've had a really, really long day {true!} and I was wondering if you could do me a little favor..."

AJ: "Sure, I'll try." {I'm sure she was wondering what on earth she could do for me 2,500 miles away!}

Bek: "Could you come open your front door?"

briefest of pauses...

AJ: "WHAT?!?!!?" and I hear her running across the living room. Her hubs got this picture of the action.

The front door flew open and AJ was crying and laughing and asking "Why are you at my house?!?!" It was a glorious moment.

so happy to have arrived and to actually surprised my bosom friend!

{please note the furry dog head in the bottom-right corner...I don't just carry around towels for kicks}

There was much rejoicing and Ale-8 drinking and laughing, and even though we tried to wake AJ's oldest, he was just too deep in his REM cycle to be bothered with saying hello. He told me in the morning, though that "I wanted to say hello, but my body didn't want to!" So precious.

While in Kentucky, AJ and I went shopping both with and without her kids; we dyed each other's hair {it's a tradition}; we baked cookies, stayed up way too late, went to church, zumba'd in her living room, visited her sister, started a new tradition of beer cheese nachos, and generally had an awesome time being in the same state.

It was a most wonderful visit, and I'm so glad that I was able to go and that it was a real live surprise {lots of people, myself included, doubted whether or not it would be a surprise}. Happy birthday, AJ! You are the best bosom friend ever, and I love you lots!