Love and Surprises

It's time now to get to the stories of our trip back to Texas. Brace yourselves.

We found out mid-June that our visas would be expiring, leaving us in our new country illegally, so we were told to get ready for a trip back to the states to start over completely. The news left me completely torn. On the one hand, I was ecstatic to be going home to friends, family and Tex-mex. On the other hand, I was just starting to get into the rhythm of living in Moscow. I had friends who I love dearly and would miss terribly. I had routines. Lunches, AWO meetings, office hours at the Starbucks at the corner and Banya Tuesday. I was the most excited to be not excited about something ever in my life.

So, with the company tendency to do things at the last minute and the stress of Hubs being gone for four weeks, we decided to keep it a secret. Honestly, we did it only because I didn't want to hear "when are you getting into town" over and over without knowing the answer. We ended up waiting two weeks from the time we were told we had to leave to the time we had a flight booked. We made it out of the country with two days to spare before our visa expired. In those two weeks, we got real excited about the surprise. (in-between bouts of frantic email checking and worrying about getting outta town...)

With the flight being so last minute, we ended up flying AirFrance and it was everything you could imagine a French Airline could be. The food was the best we had on any flight and the booze was free, as it is on most international flights, and also encouraged. My Swedish neighbor, noticing my second empty mini-wine bottle, pointed and said, "You get more. Is free." As he got up to hunt down the drink cart.

(Unfortunately, the landing was choppy at best and from our seats in the back of the plane, I have to admit, I was pretty close to losing it all. As it turns out, I managed to keep it together, unlike four of our section neighbors. Thanks, bottomless vino and turbulent skies.)

We made it to Houston completely exhausted. We had been traveling close to twenty hours but we made it. We were home. And after months of complaining about shitty customer service, we were ready to bask in good 'ol fashioned southern hospitality.

And this is where our memory of hospitality had failed us. Because no one in any country has a friendly airport. In fact, I would even say that America has the least-friendly airports. Specifically, TSA and customs employees. So, while we as weary travelers tried to find the right line for us to get to baggage claim, Hubs is chased by a short, old man frantically wagging his finger at him. Yet, when Hubs asked him where we go, he stood in stunned silence and walked off, still staring, daring him to try walking through a gate again. I'm so proud of Hubs for keeping his cool.

We made it to the hotel and treated ourselves to Chicken Fried Steak. Aaaaahhh... back home.

The next day, we set off to Dallas to surprise my parents. We got in around 8pm, knocked on the door and that's when we discovered that no one was home. Talk about buzz kill. We knew this was a risk we were taking, and Mom was out of town, but where on earth was Dad? We called from our new temporary phone (one with a Houston number, mind you...) and got no answer. But Dad did call us back, and as luck would have it, thought we were calling from Skype. (even though you can't call back a phone on Skype...) So, we got to play along, and set up a Skype date for when he got home from church. When we called again to make sure he was by the computer, I knocked on the door and gave him the surprise of his life. Thanks, Dad for letting us have that.

Mom was our next victim. This time we had an accomplice in Dad who text and called nonstop that morning to give play-by-play on when she would be getting home from visiting my aunt. Come to find out, Mom was getting phone calls the whole way home as well. She walked in and didn't even look in the living room where I was sitting, but went straight to the bedroom to drop off her bags. That's no fun. So I stood in the doorway and asked if she needed help unloading. I've never been very good at surprising my mother. When I was little and woke up in the middle of the night, I would stand over my sleeping mother and try to wake her up nicely but always scared the bejeesus out of her. That was kind of the reaction I got this time around, only with more crying and less threats of killing me.

My brother was another fun one to surprise. We just showed up at his girlfriend's house, not sure if he would be there, but knowing she would be the best accomplice if he wasn't. Celebrating with them and Shiner Bock beer was a real treat. From there, we went with them to Shakespear in the Park. It was a perfect day for a picnic and a great close to a quick weekend home.

We had a great visit in Dallas, but it was time to head off to Corpus Christi.

Our first stop was to see the in-laws. Unfortunately, we missed my mother-in-law, who was in small-town Texas visiting our new niece for a week. (I guess she would occasionally run into my brother and sister-in-law too...) Pulling up to the house like it was nothing was quite a surprise for my father-in-law relaxing on the front porch. He probably surprised us more than we surprised him since we had spent the better part of the seven hour drive brainstorming a good way to surprise them and then there he was, like he was expecting us! The phone call to MIL was pretty classic. Having fallen for one too many practical jokes, she adamantly did not believe FIL that we were at the house. So we did get her good when Hubs got on the phone to confirm.

On to our friends! We sent out a few texts. Mostly implying that we were long-lost lovers looking to meet up and make amends. Hilarious for us. Probably not as much for them.

Especially when it came to one of our dear friends. Her surprise spanned a couple days and was by far the funniest of all our surprises. This friend happens to be very direct and only has time for shenanigans she is privy too. So when she received her "hey, would love to meet up, you free tonight?" text, there was no hesitation in a "who is this?" response. After an hour or so elusive texts from us, a couple threats to block our number and call the cops, I gave up. So many clues in the texts, including a special nickname. Had we been away that long? So I promised to not bother her. End of story.

But thats just no fun. So a couple hours later, I couldn't help myself and sent a quick text, "hey, sorry, you're right this is a wrong number I'm so sorry. But you sound really nice, wanna hang out later?" The response? (don't read this part, mom...) "$%*& off." The entire conversation was a work of art. Best prank ever.

When we finally showed up at her apartment, she came downstairs with a bat and a can of Coors Light. Thats why we're friends. Like a girl scout, she came fully prepared. To either kick some ass or party.

There were lots of other little surprises here and there. And with every one we were reminded how many dear, dear friends we have been blessed with. And our family and friends were reminded that they should always be on their toes, ready for anything. Hugs are tighter and reunions are sweeter when unexpected. And we needed those tight hugs after a long and sometimes rough absence. It certainly healed a multitude of homesick aches we had recently acquired. And it got us a few free drinks, too.

Some of our friends and family would probably say that nothing surprises them anymore when it comes to us. Which is the last thing we want, since it's kind of our thing...

Cheers to our friends, for being good sports to indulge us in all our surprises.