home is where the surprises are

There's nothing like a weekend that will leave you exhausted the entire time and then a Sunday night of early rest and a long night's sleep to refresh you for the new week. The weekend was off to a tiring start with a Friday 5 a.m. wake-up for a 6 a.m. workout, leading to a 2-hour study session...all before a day's work. Saturday was the CBEST in the morning, Maritza's bridal shower, and then a few hours to spare before Mandy's birthday party...or so I thought.

Queencie and I get to Mandy's house around 7 p.m...they had met at the retreat, so Mandy told me she invited Q, too. There are some people there already and soon enough, we're getting ready to eat dinner. Rayfil prays and then Annette takes out a Sheng Kee box and we all start singing. Some people echo my confusions about eating cake before dinner...I'm confused also because they don't even open the box. Annette is right next to me and I ask her, "Don't you have any candles?" She says, "oh yeah, can you open the box?" and then walks away, assumingly to find candles. I open up the box--and I'm sure people are watching me but I'm oblivious to it--and there is a paper inside that says "Surprise! This party is for you, not me. We love u!" I figure it's one of Mandy's silly ideas and I'm about to discard it without fully understanding it, but then everyone yells "SURPRISE!" and they bring out these green balloons and surround me. I feel touched...embarrassed...loved...I couldn't believe it. I will not cry, I will not cry, I chanted inside. Mandy's birthday was the previous day and here she was, throwing a party for me. Curtis gave me a picture of the college group at his house...April 10, 1999, when Mandy had organized a surprise party for me then, too.

She said that when everyone else walked in, they thought it would be obvious to me because there was green everywhere. I didn't even notice. I was distracted from the green tablecloths because there were people sitting around. They took out streamers with green pipe cleaner dragonflies on them and adorned my head with a green pipe cleaner crown with a dragonfly on it. People took turns taking I-zone pictures with me and sticking them in a homemade journal where they would write notes for me.

After dinner, they made me sit in front of everyone (eeek!) and Annette had made up some trivia questions where people who answered correctly would win candy. They went something like this: "What kind of jar does Mel have where she puts fragrant aromas?" [Fart jar and I DON'T use it... anymore] "What vegetable makes Mel fart?" [brocolli] "How many times has Mel's Mickey antenna ball been stolen?" [2 times]

But the part that really touched me was when Mandy opened up the floor for people to share...Allen was the first one, and he talked about how much he has learned from me as a Sunday School teacher and how much the class will miss me. Oh no...the tears started to come. Pam Lau also shared about how before I moved out here, we used to keep in touch. At camp one year, someone delivered a 4-page letter to her from me and she was touched because she had just written me a little note. I didn't even remember that. Gary was there and he had known me the longest, so it was interesting to have him there along with friends that I have made in the more recent years. When Queencie shared, I said, "Oh no!" because we both knew the leaky faucets would be turned on. She shared about how every Monday and Wednesday night, we'd really have to try hard to get into capoeira, but if it weren't for me, she wouldn't have been able to last that long.

It was interesting and touching, but also embarrassing, because I'm sitting in plain view while everyone's talking about me. But really, it's nice to know that you mean so much to people and that you touch your friends' lives even in the smallest ways. I wanted to tell them also that they have done so much for me. I have learned so much from them, from the way they chase after God's heart to the way they give themselves selflessly to their friends. They all make me want to become a better person. I thanked them for everything, but I'm not big on speaking in front of crowds. I'd rather tell them individually how they have touched my life. I shared some prayer requests and they gathered around to pray for me...and I honestly believe they will be supporting me through the entire adventure

Yesterday was the three-week mark until M-day...Moving day...