Last Friday night my daughter came to me and told me she’d been discussing favorite candies with her siblings and wondered what mine was. Now discussing my husband’s favorite candy is easy because it’s one he always asks for. For me it isn’t quite that simple. I mentioned a considerably short list of candies I enjoy, starting with a candy bar that isn’t sold locally, though it is sold in Idaho so Bonnie can find it in her local grocery stores. We discussed a handful of other candies that I enjoy, and she was satisfied.
After she left I thought about all the candies I have enjoyed in my lifetime and simply cannot find anymore. One I know is discontinued. I can still find it for sale, but it is very expensive. But I thought my favorite candy bar had long since gone the way of many of the candies I remember from my youth because they are not sold in any local grocery stores. I even tried to find it on Amazon. Though I was more successful with a Google search. They are still made, just not widely distributed.
I didn’t give the conversation any further thought since Saturday was our day to serve in the temple, so I was busy.
Then Sunday, I found out she’d been lying to me.
I was sitting down to my breakfast Sunday morning and my oldest son walked in the front door, bearing candy. He not only has moved out of our home, but he is currently working in the Reno area, which means he is rarely in town and when he is, he doesn’t always come see us.
But he had a doctor’s appointment on Monday and knew Sunday was Mother’s Day, so he surprised me with a visit. And yes, he brought me one of my favorite candies. Which is when I found out the truth of why my daughter brought up the topic with me.
He’d asked her to find out because he was going to surprise me, but he and his brother were positive that I figured out what was up because she had talked to me.
That’s when my daughter explained that it hadn’t been a group conversation with all siblings, but a private one in which he specifically asked her to not tell me he was coming home on Mother’s Day. My boys thought she’d given me a clue that something was up just by asking me about my favorite candies.
But my dear daughter is wiser than that. She formed it as “just a discussion with my siblings” and that they were talking about the favorite candies of the whole family. So, until he mentioned that he thought his sister had spoiled his surprise, I’d had no clue he’d told anyone he was coming. My daughter is really good at keeping secrets. (No, that tidbit wasn’t a surprise. I already knew she was good at keeping secrets. She’s and excellent Santa’s helper.)
But that wasn’t the end of my surprises.
Later, after church, I was again sitting at the kitchen table and because I thought my daughters would call me, I actually had my phone with me rather than in my bedroom. I was right in the middle of doing something, requiring both hands when my phone started ringing.
I asked my daughter to answer it and said it was probably one of her sisters or my sister. I knew it was family from the ring tone. She looked at my phone and agreed it was family, but did not say which one. She did, however, say it wasn’t any of the people I’d mentioned.
Folks, it was my middle brother. I still see him as the little kid I changed diapers on, but he is nearly 50 years old. And yes, he called to wish me a Happy Mother’s Day.
It was later in the evening when I was able to talk to my oldest child and my grandbabies. Which again brought me the pleasant surprise of my youngest grandbaby actually talking to me, which isn’t something she does every often. She takes time to warm up to people and she has only seen me in person once in her short lifetime. The rest of the time it’s just been video chats.
Her sister is much more gregarious and started making efforts to talk to me before she could even form words, even if it was just video chats. In other words, like all kids, my grandbabies are completely different.
Then Monday, several days before I expected it to arrive, the sequel to a book I’ve loved since I was a teenager arrived. Yes, I have already read the entire thing.
So, I had several pleasant surprises this week, most of those on/for Mother’s Day.
Smile. Make the day a brighter day.
