I can’t believe I pulled it off…

I am not a good secret keeper. When people ask me if I can keep a secret, my standard reply is “I don’t know, I’ve never tried”. But Debbie and I have had a secret for about a month now that I’ve been keeping from the kids. Not only have I been keeping it from the kids, I’ve been feeding them a bunch of hogwash and letting their imaginations run wild with it at the same time (another thing I am not strong at).
For a little over a month now, the kids have been knowing that we’re having guests come and visit. At first, the only clues they received were, “They haven’t been on the east coast for a while”, “They have 2 kids”. That sort of thing. As we got closer to the date (yesterday), the kids excitement started ramping up. I would say something like “they are not married to each other” and the next day Becka would have built this whole elaborate story, that she would then convey to Jeremy, about how they are divorced and how one kid is coming with one adult. It was the most fun I’ve had in a very, very long time.
Last night, we picked up Jeremy from soccer practice and went out to the airport. I stood back from the Arrivals board and checked the gate and then went and sat down in the generic, public area. The plane we were waiting for was 25 minutes early so the kids were thinking one arrival time, while the plane was actually already on the ground. There were a couple of News crews at the airport and that kept them relatively distracted for a good while as well. Finally, we’re standing along the railing watching the people exit Customs when I turn to my daughter and say, “Hey look, that woman looks like Mommy”. Becka looks at her and then looks at me and says, “Yeah, she really does”. 2 seconds went by before the light whacked her in the head like a Frisbee doing 40 miles per hour and she went “Hey, wait a second, it is Mommy”. It was the most priceless moment I’ve ever seen.
Debbie is in town for a couple of conferences with her boss and so we get her back for 2 precious weeks before she has to go back to violence and unrest. For the adults in the household, reality is way too present to let the joy be complete but for the kids, having mom back in the house is just a true happiness. We’re going to try to squeeze 3 months of the past into these 2 weeks (wish us luck) and then we’re going to have to say goodbye again for another 3 months. I am certain this new goodbye will be harder than the first but I have my wife back in my arms again and that means more to me right now that any future pain could possibly be worth.