The Surprise of Sarah

What better way to make return home from my 5 month trip then to surprise by Mom on her birthday??  I didn't book my return flight home until 5 weeks ago.  I had been telling my Mom (and everyone else) that I would be home July 7th, while secretly my flight was booked for July 5th (my Mom and Brother's birthday).  I actually didn't even want to tell my Brother I was coming home, but figuring my family had plans for the day, I knew there was no way I could coordinate where they would be and how I would get home.  For the last 5 weeks my Mom has been asking over and over when exactly I was coming home and if I would send her my flight info.  I kept giving her the run around, while secretly planning my arrival with my Brother and Sister.

Although I was reluctant to come back from my trip, as the plane began descending into Chicago I was extremely excited and nervous all at the same time - such a strange feeling... As my sister had promised, she arrived at O'Hare with a large Reese's Peanut Butter cup blizzard.  :) It was delish!  I was so happy to see Ashley and ironically enough, she was nervous as well.  We debated back and forth whether Mom knew about my secret and wee plotted how I would walk make my grand entrance.

My mom was sitting on the back patio with her back to the door.  I casually walked up behind her and just said, "Hey Mom!  What's up?".  She couldn't believe it!  She immediately said that about an hour earlier at 12:30pm she had mentioned to my Dad that she hadn't heard from me in a few days and was wondering if I may show up early because when I left back in February, I had originally told her I would come home in July, most likely for her birthday.  Ironically enough, 12:30pm is exactly when I touched ground in Chicago.  Call it ESP or a mother's intuition, she felt my presence.  Wild!  Of course we had a great day catching up, relaxing in the sun, barbecuing, and eating cake (my sister even gave me a welcome home cookie).  It felt so good to be back with my family again and I realized how much I truly missed them.

And for everyone else.  I'm sorry I lied and said I wasn't going to be home until Wednesday.  I needed a couple of days to spend with my family, ease in and slowly come back to reality, do a few errands, all without my phone blowing up.  I guess you can say I'm sneaky like that...  But I'm back!!  So excited to have a summer off in Chicago, so excited to see everyone and catch up on the last 5 months.  I will most likely continue to blog, as I still have so much to share.  So keep checking back.  You never know what sort of new adventures I have up my sleeve...