It was around Halloween time, which is to say, midterm season. In between the piles of books, scattered translations, and trailing pieces of yarn, I decided it was a fantastic idea to fly home. Some things are more important than combing through Russian dictionaries and hoping the phrase you're working on isn't a colloquialism.
Things like throwing a surprise birthday party for your grandmother, per se.
I think she might actually strangle me if I post her age, so suffice it to say, she hit a milestone last year. Oh, and she doesn't like surprises - for some reason, she has no patience for them. So obviously her children got it into their heads that a surprise party was the right thing to do.
Seems innocuous enough, right? WRONG!
In order to pull this off, we needed to get all her children and grandchildren in one place to surprise my grandmother. This is kinda hard, as we live on two continents. That means flights to the US, and those are never cheap. Also, most of us grandchildren were in school or college. That means moving exams, last minute homework, and letting professors know we'd be skipping classes to fly back. Oh, and there were time constraints too. There were only a few times the family flying international could get a flight out. And my brother and I needed to get back to our respective colleges because it was midterm season and those translations don't write themselves.
Oh, and one more thing.
My grandfather had to find a way to keep this a secret from his wife. Which is harder than you'd think. My grandmother is sharp as a tack.
So the family started scheming. Waaaaaaaaay back in the summer. The timing was nailed down, flights were booked, and a location was tossed around. And hard as it was, there was not a peep outta my grandfather. My grandmother was none the wiser.
We came close to being blown, right at the end of the summer. My aunt's family was about to head back overseas and she accidentally said to my grandmother that if she forgot anything it'd be ok since they'd be back in October. Luckily she seemed distracted and asked if her daughter meant December - they frequently return for Christmas.
Fast forward to October. Family members start trickling in. My flight outta DC was on a Friday. Being the cheeky granddaughter I am, I called my grandmother to say hi as I walked to a free food event on campus. She was so excited to hear from me and asked about school and whether or not I was coming home for Thanksgiving. I hung up with her, ate some free pizza, and a couple hours later boarded a plane home. My brother arrived the same night from his university.
Funnily enough, I wasn't the only one to make a phonecall to my grandmother. My aunt who lives overseas risked being exposed to call and say hi from the airport. They even announced her flight while she was on the phone with my grandmother. She passed it off that she was picking her best friend up from the airport, and hurriedly told my grandfather they were on the way when my grandmother handed the phone off.
By Saturday, everyone was accounted for. All children had either driven or flown into the correct state/country. My aunt's family had successfully avoided my grandmother, as they live two streets over when they are in the US. And everyone showed up to the restaurant on time looking dapper as hell. All in all we had my grandmother's sister and brother, her nephew and his girlfriend, all four of her children, two children-in-law, and all seven grandchildren. We were shown to a long table that was partially screened from the restaurant entrance and started the long process of catching up with each other. The only thing left was to order drinks and wait for my grandparents to arrive. And know that she had absolutely no idea what was in store.
When my grandmother entered the restaurant, the first thing she registered was my youngest cousin. He was sitting at the end of the table visible from the hostess' desk at the entrance. Makes sense. He only lives two states away - he and his dad must've driven down for the weekend. As she got closer, the next thing she registered was my oldest cousins. Again, makes sense, they live in the same town.
Then she saw me. I was supposed to be in DC, what was I doing there, wait what's going on here?! Then she saw the two cousins sitting next to me, who were supposed to be at home overseas, and her expression changed to complete and utter shock. My grandfather was standing next to her, trying not to laugh. The mastermind behind the surprise, he was the happiest I've ever seen him.
The rest of the evening was spent enjoying a snatched moment of happy family time. My grandmother made a point to hug everyone there (and to point out that us middling grandchildren shouldn't be there - how did we fly back in time and just wow). It was a fantastic night, and even though she doesn't like surprises, my grandmother was so happy to have her entire family back for one evening, just for her.
For the next several months, my grandmother would tell this story. That she was never one to make a big deal outta her birthday, but her family flew in from the far corners of the world just for her, to celebrate anyway. She was that proud and happy. And it's now one of our happiest memories.
We came close to being blown, right at the end of the summer. My aunt's family was about to head back overseas and she accidentally said to my grandmother that if she forgot anything it'd be ok since they'd be back in October. Luckily she seemed distracted and asked if her daughter meant December - they frequently return for Christmas.
Crisis averted
Fast forward to October. Family members start trickling in. My flight outta DC was on a Friday. Being the cheeky granddaughter I am, I called my grandmother to say hi as I walked to a free food event on campus. She was so excited to hear from me and asked about school and whether or not I was coming home for Thanksgiving. I hung up with her, ate some free pizza, and a couple hours later boarded a plane home. My brother arrived the same night from his university.
Funnily enough, I wasn't the only one to make a phonecall to my grandmother. My aunt who lives overseas risked being exposed to call and say hi from the airport. They even announced her flight while she was on the phone with my grandmother. She passed it off that she was picking her best friend up from the airport, and hurriedly told my grandfather they were on the way when my grandmother handed the phone off.
Everyone's in state. Check.
By Saturday, everyone was accounted for. All children had either driven or flown into the correct state/country. My aunt's family had successfully avoided my grandmother, as they live two streets over when they are in the US. And everyone showed up to the restaurant on time looking dapper as hell. All in all we had my grandmother's sister and brother, her nephew and his girlfriend, all four of her children, two children-in-law, and all seven grandchildren. We were shown to a long table that was partially screened from the restaurant entrance and started the long process of catching up with each other. The only thing left was to order drinks and wait for my grandparents to arrive. And know that she had absolutely no idea what was in store.
When my grandmother entered the restaurant, the first thing she registered was my youngest cousin. He was sitting at the end of the table visible from the hostess' desk at the entrance. Makes sense. He only lives two states away - he and his dad must've driven down for the weekend. As she got closer, the next thing she registered was my oldest cousins. Again, makes sense, they live in the same town.
Then she saw me. I was supposed to be in DC, what was I doing there, wait what's going on here?! Then she saw the two cousins sitting next to me, who were supposed to be at home overseas, and her expression changed to complete and utter shock. My grandfather was standing next to her, trying not to laugh. The mastermind behind the surprise, he was the happiest I've ever seen him.
The rest of the evening was spent enjoying a snatched moment of happy family time. My grandmother made a point to hug everyone there (and to point out that us middling grandchildren shouldn't be there - how did we fly back in time and just wow). It was a fantastic night, and even though she doesn't like surprises, my grandmother was so happy to have her entire family back for one evening, just for her.
For the next several months, my grandmother would tell this story. That she was never one to make a big deal outta her birthday, but her family flew in from the far corners of the world just for her, to celebrate anyway. She was that proud and happy. And it's now one of our happiest memories.
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