Surprises

I am not a big fan of surprises. I admit that part of that stems from a perceived need on my part to have control. But most of the time, in my experience, surprises aren't really surprises. There is a lot of undercover whispering and suspicious behavior and, for me, that takes away from anything pleasant about the surprise.

On the very few occasions, someone has actually truly surprised me, I did enjoy the surprise.

Friday, Vern had a number of things he needed to accomplish while everyone else finished up chores and Katie packed up the things that Vern was going to bring up to us at the hospital. I got a call from him to let us know that he was on his way and we were looking forward to his arrival.

Here at the hospital, James' ostomy bag was coming loose and Hannah was starting the process of changing it. She called home to get Katie to find out what tips Katie could share to help the bag stay on longer.

The phone rang, but there was no answer so Hannah left a message. About five minutes later, when there had been no call back, Hannah tried again, with the same result (except that the second message sounded a little more desperate!).

In the meantime, we discovered a questionable spot under James' ostomy bag wafer and we were covering it with gauze to wait for the appropriate specialist to come look at it (it didn't end up being anything of concern). Since our wireless connection wasn't very good in that room, Hannah went down to the playroom on the floor to use the computer there and James and I snuggled on the bed watching one of our favorite Signing Time DVDs.

There was a hearty-than-normal knock at the door, but the door didn't open as it usually would have, so I called, "Come in." The door flew open at once to reveal a brief view of five smiling Skelly's. It was brief because they all surrounded the bed with hugs, kisses and snuggles. I was wonderfully surprised and I think James was too.

Thanks to Vern, Katie, Owen, Becca and Carrie for the REAL and very pleasant surprise!

Love, Stephanie