A week of Surprises!

I am exhausted.
When Diana yelled up the stairs
this morning,
"Love you Mom"
I said
"You're Welcome."
She laughed, "What?"
I replied, "Hunh?"
"I just told you I love you and you said
'you're welcome. Are you awake yet?"

That was a few hours ago.

I am home from my trip to Arizona.
I've been thinking about what I could write about it
that would be blogworthy and not a travel-log
so this is my attempt to write about my trip
using the word
"SURPRISE"
as many times as possible.
Here goes:

With my friend Nan, and daughter, Nana at my side
I headed down to
Surprise, Arizona.
Because I had to go to court
because my ex-husband stopped paying child support
so I surprised him by getting an attorney
to sue his fancy pants.
That surprised him!

On the way down
to Surprise
we stopped for fuel
and a potty break.
Which is not a surprise, right?
But! while we were fueling the car
and relieving ourselves,
which took about 10 minutes
One of us went into an adjoining casino
and won over two hundred dollars!
Surprised the heck outta us!

When we got to Phoenix
coming down I-17 I was
SURPRISED
at how HUGE it has grown to be
since I left 11 years ago!
The traffic is unbelievable!
I didn't even know where I was--
my bearings were totally messed up!

Nan says she's going to stop by a friends' house
on the way,
that's no Surprise
tho
cause she knows everyone in the State of Arizona...
I'm not kidding.
If she doesn't know YOU, she knows your Mom,
Your best friend from high school or your Vet.
just sayin.
But what I didn't know
was she had arranged for me to meet one of the awesome
blogland Gals I follow!
So when we pulled into the driveway
and out walked Lori from Joy in the Journey--
I was more than a little
Surprised!
I was in shock!
and I looked like roadkill.
A million hours in the car isn't pretty,
ya know?

But Lori was wonderful
just as I knew she would be--
no surprise there!
But then she said she'd made us dinner!
Surprise!
My favorite: Chicken tortilla soup!
And her awesome apple dip!!
Loved. Every. Bite.!
Love you Lori!

As we were sitting around the table
her sweet husband next to me,
we were chatting about all kinds of church stuff
and I turned to him and said
"What is your calling in the Church?"
A slight twinkle in his eye
and little smile on his lips,
"Stake President."
SURPRISE!

Oh! and one of their neighbors is
a man I used to work for
as a Chiropractic assistant
back in 1986!
Surprise!
It's a small world!
Thanks Nan for the great Surprise!

So with a hug and a smile
we headed out to Surprise
where we were staying.
On the way to the edge of the world,
Nan made plans for her friend to meet us
at my favorite Mexican Restaurant
"Macayos"!
Surprise!
I didn't expect that
but hey! it's Macayos!
So we went and because I was still full from dinner
I ordered a "Famous Macayos cheese quesadilla"
Yum.
Nana shared it with me.
THEN! the staff came out and
sang "Happy Birthday" to Nana!
and we all shared a fried ice cream!
Woohoo! for yummy Surprises!
We were stuffed!!!

And the weather in Surprise was
perfect!! And I mean PERFECT!

When we finally settled in
for the night
I realized that I didn't know the exact time
of the court hearing--I thought it was 8:30AM--
Surprise! --it wasn't until 1:30 PM!!
YEA! I could sleep in!

Nan's friend, Jennifer made us breakfast:
sausage gravy and homemade biscuits!
YUM!
I showered and said my prayers,
got dressed, thanked our wonderful hosts,
Then we headed over to the Surprise courthouse.

So inside the courthouse
I waited to meet my attorney--
I'd picked her off the internet--
no kidding--
and had no idea what she looked like!
A lovely young woman came around
the corner
and you guessed it--
Surprise!
It was her!
She was sharp as a tack,
so professional
but funny
and personable!
Once inside the courtroom
I was kinda dopey
I didn't know what to expect.
But she led me along
and was such a comfort.

Watching the Ex testify was like watching
a horrible train wreck.
It got messy.
That's what happens when
you lie, dude.
Sometimes you get away with it
and sometimes you get cornered.
He got cornered.
He rarely gets cornered.
Surprise!

The judge was really perfect.
So much so, that I am writing him a letter
and telling him as much.
For those of you in Phoenix,
his last name is Brotherton.
And if you ever have to go in front of him
be thankful.
Judge Brotherton gave me
all that I was asking for and
we won.

I was SURPRISED!!
Actually, I was nauseas
and was hoping I wouldn't puke.
But wonderfully relieved it was all over.
Entirely grateful.

After the court,
we went to Olive Garden to celebrate.
Then we headed to Winslow, Arizona
for the night.
Know that Eagles' song,
with the line,
"Standin on the corner in Winslow, Arizona,
such a fine sight to see
there's a girl my lord
with a flat bed Ford
slowin down to take a look at me..."
Know it?
Well, there's an actual statue of a guy
"Standin on the corner"...
and Nan, Nana and I started singing that song
about every stinking thing
we saw standing on a corner...
construction crew:
"Workin on the corner in Winslow, Arizona..."
a metal camel:
"Camel on the corner in Winslow, Arizona.."
McDonalds:
"McDonald's on the corner in Winslow, Arizona..."
we even saw a real guy, so we rolled down the window
and sang to him,
"Standing on the Corner in Winslow, Arizona! Sucha fine sight to see!"
That Surprised him!

So we got home late last night
to see a snow-covered lawn--
and Nana's boy, M. met us in the driveway...
and to her absolute SURPRISE!--
he decorated her room with streamers and balloons
for her birthday!!

So I collapsed into my own bed
amazed at how fast 4 days rolled
by...
grateful for good friends
who've kept me in their prayers
held good thoughts for me
thru this trial
and a family that was kept safe
in my absence.

Surprises.
I love a good one.
How about you?

*how many was that?