09.09.09

I am going to write this as many times today as humanly possible (without being totally obnoxious, of course).

I also figured I had better recap the most amazing weekend of my life to this point. Last Tuesday I hatched the most brilliant of plans; I was going to go to Utah to surprise my sister for the long, Labor Day, weekend. I started looking at plane tickets, asking people to sub for me at church, and trying to organize everything to make this happen. Then reality sort of kicked in and the cost for the ticket, and the rental car and the fact that I would only be on the ground for 2 days kind of overwhelmed me. I decided that it would probably be better to not go and save the money for another trip where I could spend more time.
On Thursday we had our company outing (gorgeous day, by the way). My General Manager came over and he asked me about my plans for the weekend. I told him that I had been trying to take this trip but that I had backed out because the cost was ridiculous. He agreed that it would be a huge trip but great surprise and totally backed the idea, which kind of bummed me out because, with someone else support, I wanted to go even more.
All the way home I was trying to figure out how I could possibly make it work, but to no avail. I tried my best to put it out of my mind because I was making myself really depressed and saying things like, "I wish I had never had this idea". While I was sitting at home on the couch, trying to keep 'the trip' off of my mind my cell phone buzzed; I had a text message. I thought it may have been Lori because I tried calling her and I expected her to be telling me she was in class, or to call at another time. I opened the phone and it was a message from my GM asking if I had purchased my tickets yet. I told him I hadn't and then, the most incredible thing of all time, he texted back and said that he wanted to use his frequent flyer miles to purchase my ticket!! I couldn't believe it. I reacted like they do on TV when they show commercials for the Publisher's Clearing House winners - there was laughing, crying, jumping, screaming, more crying, lots of smiling. Within 24 hours, all plans were made and I was on a plane and heading to Utah.
Lori had no idea I was coming and, thanks to her roommates and friends, was still awake when I got there. I had been planning the whole time how I wanted to surprise her but when it came right down to it, I just went and stood in front of her window(I didn't want her running down the stairs and falling, or something like that). It was probably kind of weird, but it worked. She then had the same type of reaction I had; tears, laughing, crying. It was the most awesome feeling ever! We had an amazing weekend together; it was laid back and fun.
The trip went very fast but I am SO glad that I was able to go! I firmly believe that the most important relationships you have in life should be with your family. This weekend we...reconnected, for lack of a better term. This trip was unbelievably good; it couldn't have been any better! Truly a miracle!