Surprise her good....

I did a VERY fun thing the other night. Something like I've never done before. Something that was purely for the person I did it for. Something that had nothing "in it" for me. And it was so good.

It was my friend's birthday. But I didn't know it. And she was at her house here in the city with no family to celebrate with. And her best friend had gone home for the weekend. So...I get this email from her best friend...can you please go and wish her a happy birthday?? She's all alone this weekend, and she deserves to have some friends around on her birthday. Surprise her. She doesn't know that you know it's her birthday.

Well, I'm not good at surprises. The thing about surprises, is that half the fun is in the planning for the surprise. And planning it with other people. But no, this surprise was just a gesture of love. Just plain, no exciting planning. There was really no one else involved. And plus, her birthday was the next day, it couldn't be extravagant or anything. It was going to be a purely: I'm-just-telling-you-I-love-you-as-a-person kind of surprise. I don't know, I see people doing that kind of loving all the time. That kind of "I'm reaching out and expect nothing back" love. Those little things that people do that make others feel so special. I'm not good at doing those things. I'm so wrapped up in myself most of the time that I kind of forget. But here was my chance...

I called a couple (my "adopted" parents) that have a car, and knew they had a cake in their freezer that I'd purchased for an event, but hadn't had a chance to eat it yet. I asked if they wanted "in" on this little surprise happy birthday mission. They came over, picked me up, and we set out.

I had no idea what her address was. I tried to get a hold of someone who knew, but no luck. I thought we had the right house, we pulled in the driveway, and I started sneaking across the front lawn, looked in the window...and AHHH...it was a woman sitting at a dining room table...NOT my friend!

And then, crazy!! I remembered I had her brother's cell number. Random. He'd just given it to me out of the blue when he was up visiting his sister. So I texted him, asked him for the address, and told him why I needed it. He texted me back three words after telling me her address: Surprise her good...

And that we did. We showed up on her doorstep. Cake ablaze. Singing happy birthday. She had no expectations. We had no expectations. She had no idea that we knew it was her birthday. She was tired. And she was so surprised. And the smile never left her face. I felt like we really blessed her and made her feel that "loved" kind of special. And it made me wish I could be one of those people who make people feel like that all the time.