a journey

About 2 months ago, Daniel and I had been talking about what I wanted to do for spring break. When no fun vacation plans or road trip ideas had emerged from the friends I talked to, (and considering how cheap Continental's tickets were) I decided to buy a flight to NYC for the week. Somewhere along the way, I started thinking about the possibility of surprising Daniel by coming in a weekend early. After getting the approval from my family, I faked a story about me needing to spend the first weekend of spring break at home and told Daniel I would be looking for a Monday to Sunday flight when I was really interested in a Friday flight. I found and booked a great flight that would put me in NYC on Friday at 10 AM Texas time, which would allow me some time to regroup and plan a decent surprise... and eliminate the possibility that Daniel would try and call me on the flight with my phone off.

For 6 weeks I kept the secret from everyone but my family and my college roommates. At one point I thought I blew it. After the flight was booked, Daniel had logged in to my frequent flier account on Continental to try and change my seat on a pre-spring break flight. It was only after he logged off that I realized how easily it would have been for him to see my spring break itinerary. After a few probing questions, I realized that he didn't even glance at it. That's when I went in and changed all my log-in, password, and security information.

Then came the week of the surprise. Daniel asked me to send him my itinerary at several points but I kept putting it off, asking if I could do it later on, after my "stressful week" was over. He was pretty persistent though and I realized the next day it was because he wanted to buy me a NJ Transit train ticket and FedEx it to my house.

Finally, I finished all my obligations for school and started packing the night before the trip. My mom had come that day to take care of an errand and she agreed to spend the night at my house so she could drive me to the airport for my 6 AM flight the next morning. I arrived at Daniel's apartment safely by lunchtime on Friday. I let myself in with the key I had accidentally (conveniently) stolen from the boys last time I was in the City. Realizing I had a good 5 hours before Daniel would be home, I took the liberty of exercising in the gym downstairs, showering, and curling up on their couch to read a book. I asked Daniel to message me on his way home from work. Since I knew I had to pull off a surprise on my own (and still in need of a good idea), I looked out his bedroom window and decided that my best option would be for me to be sitting on an easily visible set of steps across the street and then prompt him to look out his bedroom window when he got home (Can we say romantic? Yes, yes I know). In order for me to pick out his window from outside, I put an orange koozie in the windowsill as a marker. About an hour before I expected him to arrive, I hid my things in his roommate's bedroom and made my way to a nearby Starbucks to read while I waited for his message. At this point, I was getting really excited and anxious. Finally he let me know he was about to leave work. I left Starbucks and walked to the intersection he would have to cross to get to the apartment. I found a nice tall bush a little ways away and stood behind it, monitoring the intersection and watching for him.

FINALLY, I saw him approach the intersection and cross the street. I sped over to the set of stairs across the street and called him after a minute or two. Our conversation went something like this:
D: Hey! I just got home
K: Great! Hey guess what? I got you a surprise when my sister and I were out shopping today. Do you wanna know what it is?
D: You did? Cool! Um, well no, not if it's a surprise
K (slightly taken aback): Well, I can tell you a little part of it
D: Okay
K: But you have to look out your bedroom window in order to see it
D: Wha? Why?
D goes to open the blinds
D: Why is there a koozie in my window?
K (laughing): You have to look across the street
...
D (upon seeing me): WHA?! You're HEREE?! How are you hereee?! I am so disoriented right now! I'm gonna come down and meet you...

I was so, so blessed to see Daniel's joy over the idea that someone would go through that kind of trouble and effort for him. The time we have gotten to spend together so far has been amazing and I'm excited to see what God holds for the rest of this week.