A Good Surprise

Ordinarily, I'm not a person that enjoys big surprises very much. They may sound exciting, but often in my experience they can be more disruptive than fun, and too often they don't turn out to be quite as nice as we might have hoped.

But none of that is true when the surprise is a completely unexpected visit from one of your sons, and I was overwhelmed (in a good way) and happy at the surprise visit from Ryan. Lots of plans had to be adjusted, and details had to be switched around, but of course, the changes were totally worthwhile. Ryan has had ... I was going to say "lots of ups and downs", but it's honestly been struggles, dilemmas, problems, road blocks and many "downs", with very few "ups" over the last two or three years. We speak on the phone often, text, and visit probably twice a year, but I have been seriously considering taking the train to Colorado since I can't fly for another four months after my pulmonary embolism. But Ryan came east to let me hug him in person, and so he could relax, regroup, and consider what's next for him. He went back to Colorado on Sunday, and only the crazy, crowded insanity of dropping him off at Newark airport kept me from dissolving completely in tears.

It was absolutely wonderful to see him, and he helped me find a neighborhood tavern in Elkton so maybe I won't dread going down there so much. I hope that all of our talks over drinks and buffalo chicken egg rolls helped him think about what might be best for him moving forward, along with some plans to help achieve what might be best. If you have a spare good thought or two maybe you could send it his way as he could definitely use some good juju over the next few months. I'm back to my usual life, but happy that I've had this wonderful surprise and some more hope for his future.