The Greatest Belated Birthday Present

Three weeks ago Candice told me she had purchased my birthday present. While it was about a month after my birthday, I didn't mind. I mean, a present is a present, right?! :) Every couple of days since then she would tell me that my present should be here soon and she couldn't wait! I had no idea what she might be so excited about, but I figured it had to be good.

Last Tuesday she told me my present would be in the next day, and that I should expect her to stop by the office. I told her that was perfect because her gift had come in already as well. I knew she had some other stuff going on on Wednesday so I wasn't too worried about whether or not she would actually make it to the office. I figured, it had been 3 weeks since she ordered it, what was one or two more days.

I had a chiropractor appointment at 4:30pm. At some point I twittered this fact and Candice replied on Facebook wanting to know what time, reminding me she was coming by with my present. She wasn't on FB so I couldn't IM her. I decided I would try and call her, but she did not answer the phone. At one point I was sure she had actually answered and then hung up on me.

A little after 4pm I left for my appointment as scheduled. When I got to the Chiropractor the nurse said whenever she tried to call my cell phone she got a message saying the phone was not in service. I figured she must have had the wrong number because I knew my phone was working. I had received other phone calls throughout the day. She showed me where it was in my file, and sure enough.. it was incorrect so I fixed it.

After my adjustment I went back to the counter to schedule my next appointment when one of the other ladies in the office said, "Your friend called here for you. She said she tried to Twitter you earlier." Though Liz doesn't Twitter I thought maybe she was trying to get a hold of me, they know Liz because she is also a patient and said it wasn't her. I said, "Was it Candice?" The lady couldn't remember and so I told her my phone was in the car and whoever it was had probably tried to call it. With that I left.

In the car I found my phone to not have any missed calls. I again tried to call Candice to no avail. I thought maybe she had stopped by to drop off my present and upon finding me not there tried to find out when I would be back. So I called Liz and asked if Candice was there. The conversation then went something like this:

Me: "Hey, did you try to reach me at the Chiropractor?"
Liz: "No."
Me: "Huh, is Candice there?"
Liz: "Uh, no."
Me: "Oh, well I've been trying to call her and she won't answer her phone."
Liz: "Well, she's coming so just stay put."
Me: "Stay put where? I've already left the chiropractor and am headed home."
Liz: "Okay, well go home and stay there."
Me: "Uh, okay. This is a little strange. Is there some sort of conspiracy going on because I feel conspired against?"
Liz: "No, just go home."
Me: "Uh, okay, I'll talk to you later."

Completely puzzled I got very suspicious and a million thoughts started running through my head. Oh so obediently I went home. I was surprised and confused walking in the house to discover that Sarah had cleaned. The house wasn't just picked up, it was clean - vacuumed, dishes put away, flower vase cleaned out - clean. My suspicions were now even higher and I didn't quite know what to do. It wasn't too long before I heard a car pull up and seconds later there was a knock on the door.

I opened the door to the most wonderful surprise, my Mom! Amazingly enough on my way from the chiropractor the thought crossed through my mind, "Could my Mom be here?" Certainly that was an impossible possibility so I tried to vanish it from my mind. Not to mention I didn't want to get my hopes up for something so completely improbable and then be disappointed by whatever my gift really was. However, when I opened the door I discovered my inclination had been correct.

I was nearly speechless. I then began to hear how this had all been in the works for some time. Candice had called my Mom and asked her, "If I sent you a ticket would you come down?" My Mom said, "Well I would love to, but I have to pray about it because that's what we do." The Lord obviously also thought it was a good idea and the conspiracy began.

Candice worked with Liz to find out when my Mom's visit would work best with our work schedule. Then she recruited Ruth to request time off for me. She got Sarah to clean the house, Danny to pretend to ask me to dog sit and even gave Dean & Lisa a heads up the Sunday before. All of this went on, sometimes literally under my nose, without my having any knowledge of it. I was completely amazed; 1. that Candice got me such an amazing gift and 2. that everyone kept it a secret. Even now I think of incidents that I over looked as the regular randomness of my friends and realize it was all a part of the conspiracy. The most amazing conspiracy!

Candice even called the Chiropractor and asked them to call me and postpone my appointment to 5:15pm. Hence the question about my cell number and the weird conversation before I left about someone trying to call me. They obviously didn't get me before I left for my 4:30pm. My Mom and Candice even stopped by their office on the way to my house, but I had already left.

What started as a typical Wednesday had turned into a visit from my Mom complete with three days off work! My belated birthday present on her birthday weekend! Perfect!

My Mom, the amazing person that she is, said, "This weekend is all about you." She wanted to meet my friends, see what I do, see where I go. She wanted to experience it all, and that's what we did. It was the perfect balance of running around and resting. She got to meet all of the people important to me and even see the behind the scenes stuff I do for our Friday night broadcast. We ate at PF Changs, Jambone, Thai Elephant, Red Robin, Red Brick Pizza, Sonny's, Great Southern Cafe and Panera. We ate ice cream and watched movies. We drove around looking at different neighborhoods and even toured a few open houses. She braved small groups of my friends, large crazy groups, a five year old birthday party and crazy tourist drivers.

This morning at 3:45am I got up to take her to the airport. She called me when she was almost home around 11am (my time) to check-in. Then around 12:30ish she called to ask, "So, what are we doing for lunch?" She said she was already suffering withdraw.

Now at 11:02pm as I sit in amazement that I am still awake (there was no nap today) I hold back a few tears and wish she was still here. Obviously I realize I must return to my normal life, the grown up one where I live hundreds of miles away from my Mommy. But for a few days my "worlds" collided and I had the most important woman in my life here with some of the people that mean the most to me. That was definitely the best birthday present EVER!

Thank you Candice for such an amazing gift! You are an amazing friend, and I'm so thankful to have you!