The best surprise!

It was Easter Sunday, and we had just returned home from a beautiful church service. I started stripping off my dress the second we got through the front door, anxious to get in comfortable clothes and stuff my face with snacks and goodies. That's just what we do on Sundays; it's our norm. However, when Nathan saw that I was just rifling through the kitchen in only my undergarments, he quickly urged me to get my dress back on. "Uhh...yeah, some people from church are coming to bring us treats!" Treats? Okay, I can get re-dressed for treats. Soon enough, there was a knock on the door and Nathan asked me to answer it. As I walked to the front door, I started going over in my mind what I would say..."Hi, how are you? Thank you so much for the treats. Happy Easter..." So, I opened the door and began: "Hi, how are you?..." And then my brain froze. It just stopped working. HEIDI WAS AT MY FRONT DOOR STEP!! She was supposed to be living in Japan now. But she was at my house! I started shrieking and smiling and talking a million words a minute. OhmygoshhowareyouhereohmygoshIcan'tbelieveyou'rehereohmygoshohmygosh!

She had come to visit for a week, but she told all her friends and family to keep the visit top secret and not to say anything on any social media website. She orchestrated the most amazing surprise for me. I cannot believe she did that for me. Oh wait, yes I can. Because that is what friends do. Let me try to paint a little picture of my friend Heidi for you. We met each other two and a half years ago when we both got hired on as new teachers at Lake Oswego Junior High School. We were the new, young (and dare I say cool?) teachers, and so our similar situations immediately connected us. We didn't cling to each other out of shyness or intimidation for our new job; we clung to each other because we just clicked. We carpooled to work often and talked and talked and talked. And there was a lot of laughing, too. We were both crazy-cat-ladies and proud of it, and she too watched Friends just as religiously as I did. We also shared similar teaching styles--often leaning more towards creative projects and writing workshops and straying away from typical tests and worksheets. We focused on building a strong rapport with our students and spent many hours before and after school, sitting side by side at a computer planning lessons together. We sat next to each other at lunch and rolled our eyes together in unison when meetings lasted longer than planned.

She was one of the very first people I told I was pregnant--even before I told my family! We were at the mall together and I carried around the ultrasound picture in my sweatshirt pocket the whole time, just waiting for the opportune moment to take it and show her. She was so genuinely excited for me. She'd rest her hand on my bump at staff meetings, anxiously waiting to feel those first baby kicks. She came to the hospital when Adam was born-- toting along a hefty pile of letters and cards from my students. And she was there at my church the day Adam was blessed. She's always surprising Adam with new books and gifts--always giving because she truly has a heart of gold. Although I stopped working when I had Adam, she made a point of getting together with me often even though she was busy teaching and I was busy learning to be a new mom. Some days she'd show me a fun restaurant or shop around Portland, and other days she'd just come over, curl up on my couch, and hang out with me. She cuddled with my cat, read books to Adam (and even did all the different voices!), and stayed for dinner with us. Whenever she'd leave, Nathan and I would talk about her after she left--about how easy she was to have over, about how much we loved her and enjoyed her company.

She's one of those girls that you can't help but just stare at in awe and think, "How can someone be so beautiful and kind and smart?" She's driven and determined, but her successes don't plead for fame or praise. She puts her all into everything she does because doing any less than her best just doesn't even seem to cross her mind. She is a friend that I know will always be in my life--no matter how different or far apart our lives may lead us. I have no idea when I'll be able to see her next, and saying goodbye yet again was not my favorite moment....but as cliché as this sounds, I know we'll be friends forever. Thank you, Heidi, for surprising me more than I have ever been in my entire life. Most of all, though, thank you for being you.