The Surprise

Last week I caught my mom texting one of my best friends, Jessica, and I knew something was up. I quizzed mom until even I was getting annoyed with myself but with a smirk on her face she said she couldn't tell me. Then, on Tuesday she told me that Jessica had given her permission to let me in on the secret. She was planning a surprise get together for me with friends and family at a local restaurant here in Humboldt. I was pretty excited about it since I hadn't seen so many of them in a while and the family that were to attend would be driving in from 4 hours away. She told me there would be around 20-30 people depending on who could make it and that I should prepare a little something to say to them as a thank you. I got to writing a thank you note and for the first time in two months I had something worth getting out of my sweats for!

The day of the supper I was out of bed earlier than usual, made sure to take my pills with a little extra food so I would feel good, I picked out an outfit and curled my hair for good measure. Mid-day mom came home with a parcel for me which she had picked up at the bus depot. My brother's girlfriend Mataya had sent me the most thoughtful gift and I thought the day couldn't get better. It was 6:30 and I figured we were running late but my mom assured me that this was a "surprise" for me so I'm supposed to be late, not to mention I had to take my first hormone injection tonight so we might as well do it now at home. I agreed and so my first IVF injection, which I was pretty nervous about, was minutes before an evening with some loved ones. The anticipation must have made it faster because my mom administered it and seconds later we were done and out the door. We arrived at the restaurant and dropped mom off at the door since she was wearing heels. I parked the car with dad and saw an unusual sight. Some friends from my engineering days were walking into the building and I know that they live in Saskatoon. Why would they be coming all this way to my small supper with close family and friends? We met up with my mom and walked down the hallway towards the restaurant.

I looked to my left and inside a set of double doors were my closest friends grouped together waiting for me, and behind them was a great big crowd of people. I took one look at them and started crying. It hit me like a ton of bricks that this wasn't just a small get together but they had organized a huge night just for me. They hadn't done a quiet gathering but instead were responsible for putting on a steak night that had sold out of the 250 available tickets and yet more people wanted to come but they had to turn them away because the room was at capacity. It took about twenty minutes for it to really sink in that all of these people were here to support my family and I. Everywhere I looked I saw people from different walks of my life. There were relatives, teachers, past employers, friends and their families from near and far, neighbours, families from the community, and friends of my parents. It was like opening a present on Christmas morning you didn't even know existed and it suddenly became the best thing that's ever been given to you. I couldn't stop tearing up from the gratitude I felt and needed five minutes outside the room just to be able to maintain my composure so I could go back in without losing it.

There are few times in life where something will truly take your breath away and overcome every sense of logic and emotion. It felt so profound that all I could do in that moment was manage to put on a goofy looking smile while I cried.

The rest of the evening flew by and I tried to get a visit in with as many people as I could but with the crowd so large, I missed many people I would've liked to have spoken with. Jess, the one whose idea it was to do all of this said a speech for me and I couldn't keep it together. Then my mom went up and said a few words and that only made things worse, until she called me up to the mic. The tears stopped and the pounding heart began. I am not much of a public speaker and the short thank you note I had written for the "small gathering" was inadequate for the event that the evening turned out to be. I managed to keep the quiver in my voice in check and was able to squeak out a few other words. The most important thing was that I was able to thank everyone for such a memorable evening, one I can look back on when I'm having a tough day and smile about.