Getting home was a nightmare. I got to the airport in Cape Town only to find out my both my bags were very much over the limit and ultimately I would have to pay up to $500 in fines for me to get my stuff home. I was SO thankful to have had Natasha there with me (she's South African and was like our big sister while there) to talk to the lady at the counter and try to reason with her. So as the time gets closer and closer to the departure of my flight, we run to the closest luggage store and I buy the cheapest 'descent' sized suitcase I can find. We run back to the rest of our bags and start opening them up to get the weight down and it the new bag. Now listen, I hate packing...so after i've had enough of it i just start cramming things into the top, so lucky for us, when we opened my bag things just started tumbling out here and there. It was quite the scene but we eventually got enough in the new bag to even out the weight and ultimately I only had to pay an overage charge on one bag...hey ill take it. I hugged Natasha goodbye and headed into the airport. I was hot and sweaty and SO not in the mood to go sit for 22 hours. But at the same time I knew who was going to be waiting at the other side of this plane ride so it all made it okay. With the craziness that happened to the luggage, to the extreme emotions of being ecstatic about going home and surprising everyone to heartbreak from leaving my family in Africa, it was a tough day.
So you'd think hey whats a trip with out a little something going wrong. I've always gone with the flow and usually expect things to not go entirely the way I planned them to so I was thinking hey, I successfully got through my 'bump in the road' and now I'm home free. WRONG.
I forgot to mention that while in Cape Town, the lady only gives my one ticket...the ticket for the plane I'm getting on from SA to DC. I ask her about it and she tells me that I get it once I land in DC. I thought it was really strange but I was fed up with her and the bag nonsense so I just said alright. Well after about 18-19 hours on this plane I land in Washington D.C. Back in the good ole USofA. I actually get to use my phone as a phone! Y'all don't understand how exciting that is after not having that ability for 9 months. So come to find out my layover isn't much of a layover. Right about an hour...which would have been perfect had my flight of gotten there on time. Oh yeah, and once you arrive in America from an international flight...whether that is your final destination or your getting on a connecting flight, you still have to go through customs. So I get off the plane and see my flight leaves, not boards, but leaves in 45minutes. We all know how long customs lines can be. I start panicking because oh yeah..I still don't have a ticket for this next flight nor do I know where to go considering I'm already inside the airport. I turn into that annoying person that is running through the airport. I find where my gate is and ask a lady what I need to do to get my ticket. And naturally I have to go somewhere else. Of course, just my luck right. I think God was sitting back and having himself a nice little laugh during this extremely short 45 minutes of my life.
Well I hear that they are boarding my plane and I still have yet to get a ticket. I go up to the guy thats calling the rows and stand at that counter and its almost like I'm invisible. Like HELLO do you not see me standing here. I finally do the clear your throat noise to get him to look up and he just says something rude and proceeded to tell me he's busy and can't help me. I just told him what the lady told me in South Africa and that I am on this flight but I wasn't given a ticket and to look up my name and yada yada. Finally another guy came up and looked up my name and sure enough there I was seat 21C. But it continues to get better. He can't seem to print me a boarding pass and then decides to leave. He leaves me to deal with the first guy who already isn't on good terms with me. Im literally freaking out because if I don't get back then all my plans of surprising people will be ruined.
I had never been so happy to get on a plane and sit down in my life. I was literally the last person to walk onto the plane after the guy just said just go your in this seat. no ticket, nothing. Im sure he was tired of me and my attitude, because I absolutely had one at this point. I made it to DFW and operation surprise was in full effect.
22 hours of traveling. Running on very little sleep, I have this thing where its pretty much impossible for me to sleep on the plane. Having to deal with rude people in the airport. Lets just say I wasn't in the best mood...but it was slowly getting better. Mom picked me up at the airport and we headed to FWC. Now listen....everyone thinks I'm going to be home a week later so literally no one is aware I'm even in the country. Eric doesn't think he will see me until Halloween and my sisters are in school, dad is at work and nanny and pop are home. When we get to FWC I go and sit in Millers office and sit behind his desk and put a newspaper up like I'm him reading it. Well the girls get called into the office and they make it sound like they are in trouble for something. They walk into Millers office and you can just tell in McKenzie's voice that she's nervous which makes me laugh and I put down the news paper and morgan jumps up and says 'I KNEW IT!!' so that was surprise number one.
Surprise number 2 happened at Norton's. I think my mom let Mike know we were coming so he got me in unseen. I did the same thing, I went into my dad's office and sat in his chair and held up some folder. Mike went to go get him and I heard them walking back and as he was walking into his office I put down the folder and I think I startled Jody haha but they were all very surprised to see me and it was so much fun. Mom hid in the corner and recorded them.
But now it was time for the surprise I had been looking MOST forward to. I knew a month before I left that I was leaving early so for a whole month I had to make sure to not drop any hints what so ever to Eric because we talked every day that I was gone. I had been talking to Anne Marie about surprising him and she helped so much with making this happen. We got Tina and Jack Powers to invite Eric over to their house for dinner and I was going to be there and that is how it was going to happen. So I am driving out to Abilene, haven't eaten yet and my genius self decides to get a energy drink AND one of those starbucks espresso drinks from the gas station. After drinking all of one and some of the other my heart feels like its coming out of my chest. I was having a caffeine overload and it was scary. At first I thought it was just nerves but then I knew it was from all that I drank. I was shaky and that didn't help the nerves at all. Well I had told Eric that I was going to be camping all weekend so I wouldn't be able to talk to him. But on the drive to Abilene I tweeted something...then realized, 'Oh crap...I'm not supposed to have internet, I'm supposed to be up in the wilderness camping' so immediately I tweeted 'leave it to me to find wifi in this tiny cafe in the middle of nowhere! back to the tents we go' HAHA what...i mean damage control at its finest right there. Well I was about 30minutes away from the Powers house and I was getting more nervous. What if Eric decided he didn't want to come...what if he got out there before I did...how is he going to react when he sees me. It was as if I was playing 20 questions with myself. Well I make it to Eula and get my hugs from everyone and I go hide in Tina and Jacks bedroom which is literally right next to the kitchen.
This is how it was going to go down. She had make cookies and wrote letters on each one and when you make it into a sentence it spells out 'Shelby is Home' So whenever Eric got there she was going to come up with some reason to play this game and what not.
So were all talking in the kitchen when Quinn runs in and says I see headlights go hide!! My stomach literally drops to the floor. I am noticeably shaky because I'm about to put my arms around the guy I love for the first time in 9 months. I remember being in their room and hearing his voice for the first time. I had to put my hand over my mouth because I squealed like a little girl. I could have just opened the door then and we'd of been face to face.
Tina came in and snached a picture of me while everyone was in the dining room.
Just a little excited I was. Well she started her lets play this game talk and since Anne Marie, Quinn and Jack were in on it they made it out to be a fun idea. So Eric and Tony joined in. I remember hearing them say how in the world do we know what to spell and Tina just said it's like Wheel of Fortune. Its a phrase you need to get. I hear them say different words and Quinn even makes the wrong ones to throw them off. Finally I hear them spell out Shelby....now I'm getting REAL nervous. The absolute BEST part of all of this was when Tina said thats it and it was Eric that read it out loud....He said "Shelby is Home"...no she's not! and thats when I walked out of the bedroom and he turned around and the rest is history. He told me he had absolutely no idea what so ever and that it was the best surprise he's ever gotten. It's been my favorite surprise to ever be a part of. When he turned around and saw me he just stood there. Tony literally ran and gave me a huge hug then Eric slowly walked to me and finally I got the hug id been looking forward to from the moment I left. I asked him why he just stood there when he turned around and he said he was in shock that I was standing there....so i'd say that was a surprise well done.
