Surprise For Me?!

I have an excruciating headache and feel extremely bloated that even elastic pants suffocate me. My eyes are red, itchy and full of pressure that any moment now they're gonna pop! I have tension in my shoulders and sharp pains continuing their way towards my lower back. My knees are weak and my body is going through stages of the oh-so-wonderful hot and cold flashes.

But...

I am utterly and completely happy!

Last night (Saturday, May 30th), my beautiful baby sister Bea planned a Disney's "Alice in Wonderland" themed surprise party entitled, Nelly in Wonderland. I even had adorable souvenirs (a deck of cards for the boys and lovely black headbands for the "girls") to go along with the overall theme.

I just didn't see this coming! I knew they had something up their sleeves, but not to this degree. With the help of my older sister, Ate they plotted every minute leading up to the event. From the evites to the venue, everything was kept on the hush. No hidden clues to uncover. No text messages to decipher or emails to give away any tiny detail. Not a single paper trail lead me to believe that such a surprise was well underway!

I was so unaware of it all that my bestfriend, Pam had to come up with a last minute clever lie to get me back to Pasadena. I remember seeing her picture on my phone as her incoming call rang in thinking, "Ok, she either needs something or something bad happened." Either way I thought it wasn't good news. I picked up and right away she blurted out that her car broke down a few miles away from her place and absolutely NO ONE could come to her aid. She had the kids with her and didn't want to be alone. This was unlike her. She's handled worst-case scenarios before, but she sounded frantic...a little too panicky that I had to take a moment and collect myself in order to remain calm. I started offering every possible suggestion in the book since I was no where near the area. Calling AAA and other family members nearby, but to my dismay she shot down every single option, except of course for one: having me head all the way back to where I came from to get her.

I didn't want to tell my boyfriend, Chey at first because I knew he'd be upset and not to mention irritated that all of this was happening. We had already been late to his friend's graduation party and I really didn't want to leave so soon since we had only been there for about an hour (little did I know they knew of my party beforehand). Then suddenly, Chey became too accommodating to my needs and actually seemed willing to "rescue" Pam. I had my doubts about his niceness, but didn't catch on to it nonetheless. I think he noticed my curiosity because he finally started acting like a frustrated jerk in the car and then I thought, "Oh, there's the man I know so well!" I was starting to wonder why he didn't mind at all, but as his Mr. Nice Guy persona grew thin, my suspicions left me.

As we drove up towards the parking structure, people started screaming! I couldn't make out what they were saying so I dismissed it altogether. I kept thinking, "Geez, of all the spots in the city, Pam had to pick the most crowded one to get stuck in..." My patience wore out so fast that I even asked Chey to monitor the time so we only had to pay $1.00 for parking (I had no idea we'd be there ALL night)!

So there we were, walking out of the lot when a whole mess of people started screaming again. I turned around, embarrassed, thinking they were screaming at someone else and was even a little hesitant to cross the street (again, it didn't occur to me at all that all of this was for me).

Until of course, I moved in closer.

Chey held my hand as we crossed the street. Obviously, the first person I looked for was Pam and I kept thinking, "Wow, why is she in front of so many people?!" I didn't even realize all the faces surrounding me were my people until my friend Genaro jumped up and gave me a big hug. I almost blurted out, "Hey, what are you doing here?!"

And then more friends starting popping up: Andy, Jaime, Jesse, Quoc...

Then my family: Joey Joe, Erin, Joan, my sisters, and even my two most special cousins from up north Ruthie & Ricky (whom I shrieked at in all excitement because they travelled from San Francisco just to celebrate with me for one night)!

More and more people came up to me. Joe Bean, my brother in-law Leonard, Chey's sister Amber, Lea, Maria, Pam's husband Mike. Neil and Michelle trickled in too. Mostly everyone in my life was there.

I almost fainted! But of course... I did the inevitable... I cried.

A lot.

Tears rolled down passed my liquid black eyeliner and streaked across my flushed-red cheeks. All I kept thinking was, "Why oh why did I have to wear my bulky, black parka out of the car?!"

I should've arrived stunning, but then as I continued to make my way through the crowd, I suddenly felt fabulous. They were there for me.

All. For. Me.

It was unbelievable. Something I had only dreamed about once before, but never figured would ever become a reality, especially without planning it for myself.

Surprised?

Ya, I guess you could say that.