A Love Story: Twists and Turns

Last I left you, Mama Pudding's partner, M, had just ruined a perfect and meticulously planned surprise.I received the forwarded email from my mom at around 10:30pm. I called her right away (using Skype, of course), foolishly hoping that perhaps she hadn't read it. As soon as her beaming face appeared on my computer screen and I saw her smiling from ear to ear, I knew that the surprise was truly blown. She ecstatically apologized for ruining the surprise, but was so happy that he was coming that I couldn't stay disappointed for long. She asked that we not tell M about his mistake; she was worried that his mood on the journey would be ruined. Mama Pudding suggested that she could pick M up from the airport, and surprise him instead.

I called Sister P to tell her of the change in plans. Poor Sister P: As many of you students know, the beginning of December is kind of crunch time at school. She was busy writing papers and studying for midterms all while working two jobs and recovering from the flu. Organizing Mama Pudding's surprise was time consuming, but it was also the only glimmer of happiness in her otherwise dreary life. When I called her to tell her the bad news, Sister Pudding's carefully stacked world came crashing down. She started to cry, and, like any good big sister, I hate to see Sister P cry.

All night, I tossed and turned trying to think of a way to salvage some of the surprise. M hadn't mentioned anything about the proposal in his email, so we still had that going for us. However, I started thinking that there might be a little bit more that we could do to help this great cause...

When I woke up (and may I remind you, this is now the day before M was scheduled to arrive), I called Sister P with a new plan. I proposed that we book a room for them in an inn or B and B, and have them drive down right from the airport. Sister P took this idea and ran with it. She suggested that we had flowers sent to her work telling her to pack for an overnight trip (Mama P would not be happy if we made her go anywhere without her “essentials”). We called M to fill him in – he LOVED the idea.

I booked a room outside of Stratford, Ontario, just 15 minutes away from Sister P. We ordered 12 long stem roses to be delivered to Mama P's work with a note that said something like this:

Dear Mama Pudding,

You think that you are so smart, but we have more than one surprise planned. Pack on overnight bag – you're going on a little trip.

Mama Pudding was supposed to arrive home from work around 4pm the day. I sat by my lap top, anxiously awaiting her call. I knew that when she received the flowers she would call me and try to get more information because Mama P is always in control and hates surprises. When she still hadn't called an hour later, I became worried. When I finally got her on the phone, she acted completely nonchalant. She didn't want to chat because she was getting ready to pick M up from the airport. That is when I knew that she didn't get the flowers.

What else could go wrong with this plan?....