Day 7: Surprise!
Posted by Kelli Joan Bennett
Day 7. The stage is set. The decoy phone call took place yesterday. My Dad officially has no idea I’ll be surprising him today for his birthday. The cake is bought, the sparkly “7” and “5” at the ready to go atop it, an oddly large “it’s your 75th birthday” button to place on his lapel post surprise and the obligatory gag gift of a Bass Pro shop t-shirt that reads, “My Equipment may be Old, but it Still Works.” I’m not sure how my Dad has reached this milestone birthday. The time has flown. I remember when he turned 40. I can only imagine what he was going through at that mid-life marker because he had the ingenious idea to color in the grey of his beard with mother’s mascara. It worked like a charm until it rained. It wasn’t waterproof back in those days.
I’ve never been a big fan of surprises myself, at least the ones on me. I prefer to know what’s coming. I tend to want to surprise people versus be the one surprised. It’s probably a control issue, a power play. I elicit the response. I control mine. I realize it’s impossible to know exactly what is on the way even if I think I do. My Dad thinks he knows how the rest of his day is going to go and in about an hour, I’ll be throwing that “idea” out the window. There is a constant barrage of surprises every day from the design of my bed head to who calls with bad news to how the morning bike ride goes.
Surprise!
In light of my experiment to think outside the box inside the box and create from what I have, I determine it’s time to stop pretending that I, in any way have control of the surprise factor of life. It’s time to be more open to them. It’s time to broaden my horizons. It’s time to think outside the box inside the box and be the suprisee instead of just the surpriser from here on out.
Until tomorrow, create from what you have…surprises and all.
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