Happy New Year, Friend! It’s 2025!
It feels like I haven’t written to you in ages! I hope the new year has treated you well thus far and your holidays were happy! (When I use my editing program in a little bit, it will want me to change the word “thus.” I’m not going to let it boss me around. New year, new me.)
Question: Do you like surprises? I know some people love them, and some hate them. I suppose we don’t mind the pleasant variety, but no one likes unhappy ones. I have a story to tell you about a series of surprises that occurred in our household several years ago, right at the start of another brand-new year.
I’m going to be pretty vague here about names and football teams to protect the—innocent.
Kevin always gets several tickets to the Orange Bowl football game every year. It happens around this time of year, and you never know what teams will be playing in it until close to the end of football season. Kevin and his business partner invite a handful of friends/business associates to accompany them on this yearly trek. They load their vehicles with food, beverages, tables, and coolers and head south for a day of manly revelry. The group changes a bit each year; Kevin always likes to invite people he knows are fans of whatever teams are playing that year.
One year, the game happened to fall on New Year’s Eve, and Kevin decided he’d skip the game entirely to stay home with his devoted bride (me). It’s not often that I rank higher than football, so I was pleased with his choice. He decided to give the tickets to a guy he knows (who lives in a different state) whose family were huge fans of one of the teams playing that year. Great! Fine! D-O-N-E, done! But wait—there’s more!
Kevin’s generosity did not stop there. He asked if I’d mind if he offered up our house for this family to stay when they came for the game. Noticing my introvert “spidey sense” going up at the mention of strange people in my house, he assured me they would just be here briefly and basically just use our house as a place to stay. They would be “on vacation” and going out to eat, doing “their own thing,” and we’d hardly know they were here. I agreed with the terms stated. They could easily occupy the side of our house where all our empty bedrooms are, and I could hide in my bedroom. Never the twain shall meet. OK, I’m not that reclusive. I’d say “hi” before I went and hid. We were to have Kevin’s friend, I’ll call him “Mark,” Mark’s wife, their two college-aged daughters, and one of the girl’s boyfriend.
I had two days before their arrival and decided I’d clean the house the first day and do some grocery shopping the next. I knew they wouldn’t be eating meals with us, but I wanted to have some breakfast items on hand, etc.
No sooner had I pulled the vacuum cleaner out of the closet when Kevin called. He was chuckling. He asked, “Did you know Mark and his family were coming today?”
“What? Today? How would I know they were coming today? He’s your friend!”
“Well, I just heard from Mark, and they’re on their way! Should be here about dinnertime.”
Surprise!
If there was an Olympic event for speed-vacuuming, I’d have won a gold medal. There’d be no time to go to Publix. If they didn’t want stale Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast, they’d have to go out.
I made sure all the bedrooms and bathrooms were guest-ready. Kevin came home a little early from work that day. We’d pass muster. Remember, I told myself, they’ll probably just come in, drop their bags, and head out for dinner somewhere.
Just then, a vehicle pulled into our driveway. I tried not to peer too obviously through the blinds from the inside of the house. The five folks got out of the car and stretched their travel-weary arms and legs. They extracted lots of luggage, and up they came to the door.
As I opened the door to greet them, Mrs. rushed and flung her arms around me. (Spidey sense tingling again.) She thanked me so much for inviting them and putting them up. Daughter #1 (D1), her boyfriend (BF), and daughter #2 (D2) followed behind, all three looking a bit disgruntled. This was my first time meeting Mark, and he was, in a word—gregarious. We showed them the bedrooms, and they made themselves comfortable.
They didn’t seem to be going out on their own for dinner, so Kevin suggested we all go to a local restaurant for dinner. I can handle one dinner, I guess, thought I.
I can’t possibly tell you all the Surprise!s that occurred during that stay, so let me get to the juicy stuff.
That first morning, Kevin and I were up early, as usual. I made a pot of coffee and was hanging out in the kitchen when Mark was the first to emerge from the hallway leading to their rooms.
Heaven help me—what on God’s green earth was he wearing? I’ll tell you what—the shortest bathrobe I’d ever seen on any person, male or female. “Micromini” would be an accurate description of the length of this garment. He had utterly bare legs sticking out from under the robe, and I had no idea what more he might or might not have had on underneath. I already told you he had a “gregarious” personality, right? He started talking about Lord knows what. He spoke with animation, and his arms did not remain at his side. I have no memory of what he was talking about, but the more animated he became, the more his arms flung around and the higher that robe went. I didn’t know where to look as he talked to me—that robe creeping higher and higher.
Surprise!
What a way to start your day.
We hadn’t expected them to be here that whole day, and they didn’t seem to be hatching a plan to go anywhere. We had to think fast. Kevin invited Mark to go golfing with him for the day, and we suggested the rest of the family head to the beach! After all, they were in Florida! Please . . . go to the beach!! Having lived in Florida for several years, I didn’t need to go to the beach. I’d happily stay home while they headed for a day of sand and sun.
That day was delightful. I made it to Publix and even prepared a meal for all of us that evening. When the beachgoers returned later that day, they said they’d had a great time. They were all sleepy, so they went to take naps. I’d loaned them a bunch of our beach towels to take with them, and when I went into the laundry room after their return, I found four soaking wet, covered in sand towels on my laundry room floor.
Surprise!
I’m already way over my typical word count, and I haven’t gotten to half of the surprises that ensued. I’ll list them quickly just to give you an idea:
- A fight between Mark and Mrs. while we were all having dinner
- Mrs. announced she was NOT going to the game; she was staying home with me the next night (That would have been New Year’s Eve – Kevin, Me—and Mrs.)
- BF took a heap of my very delicious cheesy potatoes onto his plate, only to discover there was parmesan cheese on top, to which he said, “Ew” and scraped his plate back into the serving dish
- All three kids were constantly in my refrigerator and pantry till we were cleaned out
- Mrs. announced that D2 had mono and just couldn’t get over it
OK, you get the picture. There was a total misunderstanding about what we expected that visit to be like and what Mark’s family expected it to be like, which resulted in a whole lot of surprises.
Where’s the encouragement in all of this? Well, it’s taken me a few years to recover, but now I look back at that time and laugh. (Still a little traumatized by that robe.) This family loved staying with us, and the icing on the cake was that their team won the Orange Bowl that year. They insisted we stay with them some time so they could return the favor. (We haven’t taken them up on it yet.) All this makes for great storytelling now. Maybe I needed a bit of discomfort to Surprise! me out of my “leave me alone” -ness.
But still, that robe!
Thanks for sticking with me through this long letter. I pray the new year brings you only good surprises.
Written with love – – – – Patti XOXO
“Each day holds a surprise. But only if we expect it can we see,
hear, or feel it when it comes to us.
Let’s not be afraid to receive each day’s surprise,
whether it comes to us as sorrow or as joy
It will open a new place in our hearts, a place where we can welcome new friends
and celebrate more fully our shared humanity.”
Henri Nouwen