Tuesday, March 9, 2010

surprises

so today . . . i was greeted with a lovely surprise when i walked back into the germ incubator everyone else calls my classroom. a gift from a student--for no particular reason . . .

i'm not really a fan of surprises, because i like to be prepared. when diandra was a baby, rollie decided to surprise me for my birthday. he had arranged for my parents to come (which required a seven hour drive) to watch diandra while we had a weekend away. he packed for me and did a great job, but he didn't tell me any of this. he just said, "don't plan anything for this weekend." (he didn't actually need to tell me that, because we lived in a very small town, and i had a tiny baby to take care of--what kind of plans was i going to make?!?!) my parents arrived, and i was so excited! and then he said, "come on, let's go!" and i said, "what?!?!?!?!" and off we went.

i would like to say we had a great time, but we didn't. and even now when i think about it, it makes me sad. because my wonderful husband was trying to do something nice for me, to give me a break, and i couldn't relax and enjoy it. because i was mentally unprepared. (ok, i was also young and a new mom leaving my baby for the first time, so there were extenuating circumstances . . . )

i admit it--i am not the most spontaneous flower in the bunch. i'm not crazy about being surprised. i like to be prepared.

but surprise presents are a whole different story! i love presents, especially surprise presents that aren't "required" by any special holiday. so when i walked in today after spending yesterday dealing with second-hand germs and saw this lovely gift, i smiled.

the kids i start out with in the early morning are not the kids in my class, and so they had not seen it yet either, and they were enthralled! thank goodness there were only four of them to begin with, because otherwise i'm afraid a fight might have broken out. they all wanted the best view of the fish, and the fish kept moving! it was funny to listen to them. because the fish lives in a curved vase full of water, it looks bigger when it is further away, and they kept saying, "oh look! it got bigger! no, now it is small again!!" i thought about explaining the science of it, but decided to go with the magic . . .

then we had this conversation:
"are you going to take him home?"
"i'll take him home for the summer."
"why?"
"well, i don't come to school in the summer, so who would take care of him?"
"Jesus will take care of him."
"no he won't," said another child.
"yes. Jesus is real, but you can't see his body--only his face."

i'm kind of wondering how Jesus is going to take care of this fish with just his face . . .
and as for my thoughtful husband . . . he has never again attempted to whisk me off without giving me time to mentally prepare. i think i would handle it better now--being older and no longer responsible for our precious only child--but it is still probably better that i know . . .

he has, however, become a master at the surprise, for no reason at all gift. :)

3 comments:

Diandra Ann said...

So here's the hard (and important) question: What did you name him??

Carroll said...

I so identify with you on the no surprise thing! When Rollie was only 3 months old, Wally did the same thing only it was tenting at the beach and Wally's doesn't do tents or fires or air mattresses, etc., etc. Besides I didn't want to leave Rollie. So I cried all night the first night and we went home! Yeah! But Rollie was with my parents and they weren't home. Oh my! My little lost lamb! But they had taken him to my grandparents home just a few miles away. He was safe and sound but I wasn't. That's the last time Wally ever pulled a stunt like that again. So these men must be father and son????
Glad you're able to be back to work!
Carroll

mom said...

This is a neat surprise. Flowers are always a fun surprise no matter who gives them....and we loved taking care of Diandra when she was that little baby and that little girl and that big girl...no matter the age.