Thursday, June 23, 2011

June, oh June!

We are still basking in the joy of Operation Birthday Party, the family plot to surprise the socks off Emily for her 26th birthday. With Pete and Amy settled in Chicago, they had arranged to come down to Lafayette on  Friday night, June 10th, to take Em out for her birthday. What she didn't know was that Bruce and I had a hotel room on the 5th floor of the H.I. City Center and we could see the alley next to the house she lives in. Oh, and that Michael had taken the Megabus to Chicago and arrived at 2:00 AND that friend Dave had arranged for a weekend stopover in Chicago on his Washington D.C. to Houston flight. And that set the stage for a series of surprises that left our daughter breathless.

Pete and Amy picked up MJ from Union Station and Dave from Midway and transported them to our hotel room in Indiana. Bruce and I had spent an hour on the phone with Emily for a "birthday call", chatting away while the others were navigating the racetrack between Chicago & Indy. (Lafayette is about an hour NW of Indy, 1.5 hours south of Chicago.) MJ, Dave and their luggage were dumped at our hotel and Pete & Amy headed over to Em's apartment, about 4 blocks away. They unloaded their luggage and then, from Em's bathroom, Pete texted MJ, "Leaving now." My text went to Pete, "In position."

Pete, Amy and Emily walked the planned route from her apartment to the restaurant. At the corner of 4th and Main, Michael popped out from behind a pillar with Gerber daisies and said, "I thought this ought to be a sibling event!"  Surprise, hugs, joy, celebration. 

A block an a half later, the foursome passed a bench where Bruce and I sat with our backs to them, and we stood up saying, "We thought this should be a family event!"  The girl was speechless, sagging against the brick building, gasping with surprise. Unprecedented! Hugs, joy, celebration. 

And then when we arrived at the restaurant, there was Dave at the table, and Emily was completely undone. It was SO much fun! I am utterly amazed that it was pulled off flawlessly. (Emily's friend saw Bruce & me sitting on the bench and though she has never met us, thought she recognized us from pictures and almost texted Em to ask if we had come up for her birthday. A miss is as good as a mile!) Truly, it was a gift to each of us, a forever cherished memory, and we are grateful to God for His kindness and goodness.

Monday, June 6, 2011

These Kids are Tough

It's almost 5:00 in the afternoon and has cooled down to 92 degrees - I am being serenaded by a high school marching band out practicing on the school soccer field that abuts our back yard. The drum corps has been out almost every day for the last week, and the last 3 days the brass has joined them. Football games will start the first week of August when the temperatures soar into the 100s. Call me an overprotective mom, but I think it's insane. Absolutely nutz.

Friday night, Downtown Franklin. I had to pinch myself because it was almost surreal.  There were 3 jumbo-trons (30ft x 20 ft.); one set up at the west end of Main Street, on 3rd St.N and 4th St. S, screening King Kong, Wizard of Oz, and Swing Time. On the East end of Main Street by the Confederate Memorial there was a stage with a 3-piece jazz ensemble providing the music for a swing dance (the guy sounded like Harry Connick Jr.) and there were thousands of people celebrating...the grand re-opening of the Franklin Theatre (circa 1938). After being mothballed for 4 years and then undergoing an $8.7 million dollar renovation, it is up and open for business again. The tickets for the first movie, Gone with the Wind, sold out within an hour. Bruce and I have tickets for a movie on Wednesday night. Can't wait to see the inside. Mike Wolfe (of American Pickers fame, originally from LeClaire IA, now a resident of Leipers Fork just up the road) found the display board for the lobby. This truly is an amazing place!