This past August as school started up again and the world slowly opened back up, I had a moment of severe impulse.
My best friend (who lives two time zones away) had left me a video message on Marco Polo. She was showing me the house where she and her boss (with the same birthday) were going to have a joint birthday pool party. After the video tour of the Air B&B, she finished her message by telling me what she really wanted for her birthday.
"I just wish you would be my sneaky best friend and fly out here and surprise me for my birthday, " were her exact words. This was a month before her 35th brithday. When I heard those words in the message I answered out loud, even though she could not hear me (becuase I was not recording) "Challenge accepted." As her best friend I have been "sneaky" before and surprised her twice previously for other birthdays. So, this was not out of the realm of possibility, but highly unlikely to happen. With Covid still present and considering the fact that I had already paid for a "Dream Vacation" this year, she really didn't expect me to fly out and surprise her for her birthday. It was a wish...
What Bestie didn't know was that I had plenty of Fun Dollars in my account after my Hogwarts adventure to take a trip out to AZ and make her wish come true. It would be my Crowning Acheivement with Fun Dollars; pay for a trip out of my extra and return to the birthplace of Fun Dollars to tell the story of a perfect Grils' Weekend.
The day after hearing the birthday wish, I proceeded to contact Mr. Co-Parent to see if he would stay with the kids if I flew out to surprise Bestie. Since he is the reason she and I met in the first place, he was more than happy to oblige. He agreed to come stay at my house while I was gone so that the kids could go to school.
After that confirmation, I booked my flight. I was set to arrive on the day of her birthday and pool party.
I then conacted Bestie's mom to let her know that I intended to fly out to surprise daughter for her birthday. I have known her mom for as long as we have been friends. She was so happy to hear of my plan. I needed someone our in AZ to be my contact point while I worked out the details of my trip.
Since we still had a month before the actual birthday, I didn't want to contact Mr. Bestie's Hubby quite yet. There was too much time for it to "slip" and the surprise to be ruined if I told the person who actually lived with her and saw her everyday. I couldn't risk it. I decided to wait until a little closer to time before letting Mr. Hubby in on the secret.
Next I emailed Bestie's Boss (the one who was sharing the birthday party). I wanted to see if Bestie was scheduled to work that weekend, and if so, could I just tag along? I didn't want to fly from IL to AZ during Covid if she was going to wrork all weekend. I wanted to make sure we were able to spend time together whether or not she was working.
Her boss was so cool about it..She gave Bestie the entire weekend off! (Of course, when the day came that Bestie saw her birthday weekend work shedule, she was so excited that she had the whole weekend off. She told me about it in another vidoe message. I had to just smile and nod, and not let on as to why she had the entire weekend off...)
A little over a week after purchasing my flight, I recieved a text.
"Can I fly you out here for your bestie's birthday?" came the message from Mr. Bestie's Hubby.
I seriously almost fell out of my chair. In all the years that I have known this man he has loved his wife dearly, but has not lived up to her expectations for gift giving. Hearing him offer this gift, the gift of giving his wife some time with her best friend for her brithday, I was so touched. It was very hard for me to not share this with Bestie. I very much wanted to tell her that her hubby was already thinking of her and her birthday. Not only that, but he literally came up with the ideal gift all on his own!
So, my answer was bitter sweet. I felt bad that he couldn't do what he wanted to do for his gift, but I really did need to let him know what I was up to at this point.
"Well...I just bought tickets last week, actually," was my very meek answer.
He said he would set something up for us to do together as a fun surprise. He asked if there was anything specific that I wanted to do while I was visting. I told him I deffinitely wanted reservations at Elote Cafe (at their new location). Elote is where Bestie and I worked when we became best friends. Mr. Hubby actually works there now, so it was not a problem to get that reservation on the books.
Another week by and I talked with Mr. Co-Parent to confrim the logistics of childcare and my trip. I had forwarded him my flight details so he would have them.
"You do realize that flight leaves at 8:30 PM right?" he said in a metter-of-fact way. My heart skipped a beat.
...
"...no..." I said, "I'll call you back."
I hung up the phone and immediatly searched flights for the day of the pool party. I found one that left at 11:00 a.m. my time and landed at 4:20 AZ time. This would put me arriving at the party at...6:30 p.m! Perfect! (Of course, this was assuming there's no traffic or wildfires on the trip from Phoenix to Sedona.) I bought the ticket then called Mr. Co-Parent back.
It was in this moment when I realized that I could not put a price on my friendship. I could have just given up the endeavor and ate the cost of the first ticket. (There was just no way I was going to travel somewhere and reach my destination at 2 in the morning, which would have been the case with the first ticket.)
I could have just bought a one-way ticket just to make sure that I got there, but I wasn't certain that my original ticket would get me back if I didn't use it as my arriving flight. I also did not want to try to call a customer service line and wait on hold to get the ticket sorted out. The one flight that would work might get booked while I was on hold.
So in that instant, I decided, my friend was worth every penny of a second round-trip flight just to ensure that I am able to see her and surprise her for her birthday.
We are that kind of close. Like sisters.
The day finally came for me to fly out and "surprise my bestie for her birthday." I did not get tired of saying that in the airport. It brought a smile to all the masked faces. I told everyone I met what I was up to.
I arrived ahead of schedule and Bestie's dad picked me up curbside at the same time my flight was supposed to be landing! We were out of the city with only 7 minutes of back-up on the 101.
We arrived in Sedona right on time. Her mom met us outside the house at the pool party and told us where Bestie was in the house and that she was occupied.
I stayed behind while her mom and dad went in and had Bestie close her eyes.
Her dad asked her, "What do you want more than anything for your birthday?"
She didn't answer truthfully becuase she was put on the spot. She told me later that she really wanted to say, "To see Rachael" but she knew that wasn't a real possibility, until...
"On the count of three, open your eyes; One, Two, Three..."
And as everyone said three, I positioned myself right in front of my bestie's face. She opened her eyes and...
It was one of those moments I will never forget. She cried, we hugged, it was magical.
and...
The entire weekend only got better from that point on!!!
Remember what I said about Mr. Hubby planning something for his wife for her birthday?
Well...
The day after the pool party was Mr. Hubby's Gift Day. Bestie and I woke up at the pool party house (the Air B&B) and took a dip.
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