As you may have read in my previous posts, my sister and I are really into surprises. We’re always trying to scheme up the next surprise for one another, or for our parents. This time around, I was able to pull off one of my best surprises yet for my sis, leaving her squealing like a crazy person in her own home. 🙂
My sis turns 40 in January. Precisely 100 days before that, back in October, I gave her my first surprise. I collaborated with my brother in law to surprise her with a cake that read something like “Surprise! Your 100 day countdown to your big 4-0 begins now!” Who does 100 days countdown for a 40th birthday? Yeah, nobody. So, she was truly shocked, haha! Score!
After that, for the next month, I continued to surprise her with little gifts and cards. I had my cousin Alice slip a card and a gift into her bag when they had lunch together one day. I had my mom hide a gift into an empty box that she was picking up for storage. I mailed her inspirational cards and gifts here and there. Each time, she’d text message me how surprised she was, along with photos.
Bridge was my co-conspirator. She helped pick out some of the gifts, and presented some pretty funny ideas of her own. When I decided in late October that Bridge and I would take a trip to Hong Kong in November, I thought I’d maximize another opportunity to surprise my sis. I informed her of my decision to visit, but I gave her a fake date. Then, to misdirect her a bit, I proposed to her that we surprise our parents, and I began “fake scheming” with her on the plans for that….how she’d pick Bridge and I up at the airport that morning, how we’d invite our parents to church so that we can surprise them there….and so on. Unbeknownst to Mimi, hehe, I was scheming my “reverse surprise” with my mom at the same time. 🙂
Yesterday, one week before Mimi thought we were arriving to Hong Kong, my parents picked Bridge and I up at the airport. My plan was for us to go directly to Mimi’s house to surprise them at 8am. But, we found out the day before that Brianne had piano lessons that morning, and they wouldn’t be home until noon. Noon was also the time that my cousins would arrive for a BBQ that Mimi had planned with them for the day. I had my mom try to convince Mimi to get home by 11:30am so we’d have a small window of time to execute our surprise before the BBQ but Mimi’s response was somewhere along the lines of “I’ll try”. We took a taxi to her home and arrived at 11:45am. With fear that we’d run straight into her coming home at the same time, we had to hurry and hide in a corner around the building with all our luggages. After my mom called to confirm that she was actually inside the house, my parents went inside first. Perfect to my instructions, when my mom entered the house, she took my card out of her purse and claimed that she found the card lying right on the floor. My sis was busy finishing the preparations for the BBQ and didn’t pay much attention to it. My mom, feeling anxious as she knew we were right outside the door, nagged her to open it up, and in a state of annoyance, Mimi did as she was instructed and read the silly poem that Bridge and I whipped up on the plane:
Like with the previous surprises I planned in the last month, Mimi went to open the door expecting a gift wrapped box sitting out there. Instead, she saw Bridgette smiling up at her….
I can’t even describe the expression on her and Brianne’s faces. I didn’t take any photos or videos because for once, I convinced myself to just savor in that special moment instead of trying to capture it “on film”. All I can say is that there was a full minute of non-stop squealing, jumping, hugging, and laughing right at her doorway. They were truly, genuinely, over the top shock and it was pure bliss to witness. So excited that the surprise pulled through despite all the obstacles along the way!!
There’s still another 2 months before Mimi turns 40, so I can’t say that I’ll stop scheming up more surprises for her but for now, I’m just going to savor my time here with my family and friends. 🙂
