Once Again, the Element of Surprise - Time Out #229

My plan with this writing, dear folks of Our Town and far beyond, is to call upon your wonderful ability to imagine.

No, not really deep, deep imagination, just good imagination.

The time is the recent holiday period, the setting is San Diego County, CA, more specifically their North County city, Escondido. As the crow flies, this city of about 150,000 is approximately 30 miles northeast of downtown San Diego.

Regarding surprise happenings, my bride, Debbie, and I like to think of ourselves as the gold standards. This latest episode certainly adds to our credibility regarding this somewhat routine exercise on our part. We have successfully accomplished it on many occasions over our 40 years of togetherness, and we did it once again.

In providing full disclosure for this event, I give a total "shout out" to Ms. Debbie for her idea. Once we jointly decided the mission was "a go", I implemented most of the mundane details, so it did actually happen.

Our three children all had plans that took them elsewhere for Christmas Day, but our favorite (and only) daughter, Ms. Michelle, did come to Our Town the weekend before Christmas to see us. She certainly is always well-aware of taking care of her parents' needs to see her as much as possible on special occasions. However, we were without family on December 25, but did spend it with our "other family" ,Our Town's Karns clan. Fellowship with the Karns bunch is ALWAYS a fun and joyful time for all. This year was no exception to that well-established rule.

Our latest surprise was set in motion the day after Christmas.

We got up before sunrise, and found our way to Stillwater Regional Airport (SWO) for the 12th time since scheduled American Airlines service began, August, 2016. Once aboard their magical jets, we were quickly taken to the City of Eternal Springtime, San Diego! We followed our normal routine on this annual West Coast trip (Debbie's home for her first 32 years), securing the rental car, eating at "El Indio" Mexican restaurant. and driving to a chosen hotel. What was different about this recent adventure is my bride had packed our pairs of "loud" (as in bright blue color with small, polar bear figures) holiday, soft, flannel pajamas her youngest sister/husband, Rachelle and Michael Bernard, had purchased for us for Christmas. They had mailed the thoughtful gifts to our home. They also sent us the same pattern pajamas for our internet rock stars, our 4-legged "children", Spanky and Tux. Needless to say, we left those special pajamas home with the young rock stars, but had taken several family photos with them, and had sent said fancy pj pictures to the Bernards!

Since none of the Southern California relatives knew we were visiting them (thought we were still in Our Town), we stayed away from their homes for the first couple of days. Rachelle was at work Thursday and Friday, but Saturday evening, Michael was going to make a beef stew, and the Bernards had invited the third sister and her husband, Toni and Michael Ninich over to eat. The Ninich clan lives in Ramona, a small rural community in San Diego's East County, about an hour from Escondido. Thus, the total surprise plan began around 6 p.m. Saturday. After a day of activities on our own, my bride and I returned to our hotel, and changed into the "gift" pajamas. Heck, I even had brought my fluffy housecoat along, too, and completed my personal attire with a pair of my house slippers. Dressed in this unusual (?) clothing, we attempted to sneak out the back entrance of our large hotel, only to be seen and acknowledged by a hotel maintenance man. He certainly enjoyed a hearty chuckle at our expense that night. As we drove our rental car the 15-minute freeway/street drive to the Bernard home, I was REALLY hoping we would not get stopped, and pulled over by local law enforcement!

Now, it is a very dark evening, 7:15 p,m, and we are on the Bernard front porch, ready with our double surprises; 1) our actual being there without any hints we would be, and. 2) dressed in our gifted, comfy pj's. I also had an empty paper cup in my hand, and when Rachelle came to the front door, answering our doorbell ring, I asked, "Excuse me, madam, it's a bit chilly out here, and I was wondering if you might be able to share a bit of hot stew with us?"

Well, the evening's outcome was simply wonderful for the 6 of us that special day, December 28, 2019.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!