Dad's Surprise

I have a little down-time at the moment, so I'll fill you in on details.

My dad has been the Rotary District Governor of District 5190 for the last year.  This weekend is his district conference.  My mom decided way back in January that this was too important an event for me to miss--the whole family needed to be together.  Anyone who doesn't know my mother, is unaware of just how dangerous she can be once she gets an idea in her head!  ...She began planning a surprise of epic proportions.

The first step was buying my plane ticket on a friend's credit card (dad carefully reviews the monthly bills...this way there would be no paper trail).  Once that was taken care of she needed to devise a way of tricking my sisters into picking me up at the airport without ruining the surprise!  She invented Rotary V.I.P. Vitorio Pearluchi (suspiciously similar to Viola Pearl!) who would be flying in from L.A. at 8pm Wednesday evening.  Maggie and Lucy would be asked to please do the favor of picking up and escorting this gentleman from Reno-Tahoe International Airport to the Nugget in Sparks where the conference is being held.  My mom was giddy with excitement through all these planning stages because she just knew Maggie and Lucy would NOT be keen to pick up some strange Rotarian and spend an awkward 10 min ride back to the hotel with him!

In the days leading up to the surprise she was getting more and more excited.  I was bombarded by enthusiastic emails detailing what I needed to bring and keeping me updated on the latest in her surprise efforts.  The theme of the conference is Star Trek ("Boldly Go Where No Rotarian Has Gone Before...!") and so in keeping with the theme, my mom ordered Star Trek outfits for all of us.  Of course when the box arrived with an extra dress, my technologically challenged mother had no problem feigning surprise and frustration as Maggie and my dad laid into her about being "dangerous" on a computer and "how could you not check the quantity box before clicking to purchase?!" :)  She loved every second of it.

Finally, on Wednesday and according to plan she played the part of the stressed and frazzled First Lady appealing to Maggie and Lucy for help picking up this V.I.P from the airport.  Thankfully the woman helping to orchestrate the surprise along with my mom filled the limousine driver in on the situation (yes, I was driven back to the Nugget in a limo!).  He was game for the surprise and so escorted Maggie and Lu into the airport to witness, all the while teasing them light-heartedly that they couldn't even pronounce this guy's name!  Maggie and Lucy, for their part, were willing enough it seemed although once out of ear-shot from my mother began immediately complaining to each other about having to run all her silly Rotary errands and how awkward this was going to be at the airport...and were they even wearing appropriate clothes to be picking up a Rotary dignitary??

From my end I had the good fortune of sitting next to a kind, business woman who said she'd be willing to film the surprise.  I sent her off toward baggage claim ahead of me and waited for about a minute before following.  You can see from the first video I posted that this was just barely enough time for her to get in position with the camera on before Lucy spotted me.  She came shrieking down through the slot machines toward me with Maggie hot on her heels.  Lucy grabbed me in a huge disbelieving hug and when Maggie joined the huddle she knocked us both to the ground!  Neither of them could believe it and all of us were coming close to tears.  With both my sisters clinging to me I made my way toward the limo driver and the camera lady, both wearing ear-to-ear smiles.  The first part of our surprise had been a complete success.

We cackled and laughed and recounted the story all the way back to the Nugget where it was time to surprise my dad.  My mom's partner in crime met us as we climbed out of our first ever limo ride and gave us a run-down of what would come next.  He was in the middle of dinner with visiting guests from Korea and last year's P.D.G. (Past District Governor).  They would all walk in front of me as human shields and then suddenly part to reveal me once we got to the dinner table.  As it turns out my dad was sitting with his back to us--perfect...

I'll let you watch the video and see the rest for yourselves:



My mom deserves a BIG pat on the back.  This has been the best surprise ever!  My dad just keeps saying, "She's real!"  And after the opening speeches this afternoon, I couldn't be happier or prouder to be here with him for the grand finale of his amazing adventure as District Governor.

I love you Mom and Dad.