SURPRISE!! Yes and No.

Last night when I arrived home from work, my family greeted me with a surprise party to celebrate my promotion, which is approved but not yet public (until now :) ). On the table was a cake, yellow roses, a large box of elegant truffles and a new MacBook. My son cooked a feast on the barbecue--two kinds of fish, fruit marinated chicken, steak satay and chicken sausage. The girls made mashed potatoes and my mother in law made a salad. My husband had promised to cook but did the organizational work instead, delegating the bulk of the work to my son, who has become quite a good cook. And people laughed when I bought him an Easy Bake Oven when he was 5 years old.

I was so touched and happy at the effort and the grand gesture. However, it was not the surprise I pretended it to be. A few days ago my grandson came into my bedroom and asked me if he could look inside a large brief case sitting near my desk. The litigation case belongs to my husband and had been sitting there for a while. I checked to see if it was locked and since it wasn't, I popped it open for the child. Lo and behold, there was a MacBook inside. He said "Ooooo, a computer!" I said that I would have to ask Grandpa about whose it was. So yesterday morning I remembered and asked my husband. First he said "What computer?" Then he confessed and made me swear that I would pretend to be surprised. I called to check with him an hour before I came home and he reiterated that I needed to act surprised. I am not the best of actors, but I tried to act surprised. Of course, it became clear that he had told everyone about what my grandson had done so my acting surprised was another part of the surprise! Nothing is a secret in a house with a 3 year old. But the evening was wonderful and I am thrilled to get the MacBook which I have coveted for a long time.