Once and for all!

I swore that if I had to tell this story one more time, I would strangle myself. So, I'm putting it on here for the general public and my sanity. :)

About a year and a half ago:

In a letter that I received in the mail, Ben informed me that he'd be returning about a week short of the full two years, coming home on April 14th compared to the April 23rd he left on. From that day forward, I had banked on him arriving in the Salt Lake valley on Wednesday, April 14, 2010.

Six months ago:

Ben finds out that his final transfer will last 5 weeks instead of 6. At this point in time, he tells everyone of the updated schedule - except for me. It's at about this time that they all go in cahoots with one another on how to pull off surprising me.

One month ago:

Our (Ben and my) best friend, Katie, asks for a "one last girl's night" before Ben gets home and she marries Braedon in May. Naturally I agree to dinner and the date is set for April 8. We also agreed that, since at this time of the year with finals and such, we never get ready past showering and brushing our teeth, we'd actually get all the way ready - makeup, hair done, even cute dresses.

April 8, 2010:

Okay, here's where the real story begins!

I wake up fairly early that morning, finish some last-minute assignments and run to class. This entire week my kids at work have had Spring Break so, naturally, I'm off of work, as well. When class is finished, I take care of some things around campus, come home, and hit the books again (or laptop, shall we say, since I was, after all, writing papers for the majority of the time I was home). I get completely carried away in the paper that I'm writing and forget about getting ready for my date with Katie. I don't shower. Instead, I braid my hair into two pigtails, throw on jeans and a t-shirt, and call it good!

I get to the class that Katie and I share, later that night, and pure disappointment washes over her face - can you blame her? I looked like a scrounge! She immediately begins insisting that before we go to dinner, we go back to my apartment and I change so that she doesn't feel as silly being the only one in a dress.

Class ends and we head back to Raintree. During the drive, Braedon (Katie's fiance) keeps texting her... Getting embarrassed, she turns to me and says, "Sorry! Obviously Braedon's especially needy, today!" I'm still not expecting anything, not a thread of suspicion running through my mind.

Once at the apartment, I change into a dress and begin pulling the braids out. Almost in concern, Katie says, "Do you want to wait and straighten your hair before we leave?" "Nahhhhhh!!" "Okay... Well... do you maybe want to put on some make up, then? You can, we have time!" Again, my response is "Nahhhhh!!!" For the third time, she asks if I'd like to shave my legs, saying that she had shaved hers for the momentous occasion. You'd think I'd have caught on, by now, but nooooo! I answer, again, with a resounding "no". 

Finally, we get to the restaurant, Guru's, on Center St. in Provo. Katie and I walk in, order our food, find a table, and start talking wedding plans - a pretty serious topic of discussion, these days! When I sat down, I just happened to sit facing the door, not really thinking anything of it, expecting Katie to sit across from me like most normal people do. But she doesn't. She slides in on the bench, next to me. Odd? Conversation picks up like normal, and as I'm describing a pair of Converse that I found, I happen to glance towards the door, looking for that inspiration of color to match the coveted shoes with. As I did so, I saw a guy walk in who looked an awful lot like Ben! I turn to Katie to tell her I found a doppelganger, before I open my mouth, I whip back around for a double-take, realization settling in. This was no look-alike, this was the real deal. It was at this point that I passed out. (Okay, not really, but I sure felt like it! I can't, however, remember what happened for the next five or so minutes, so the following is actually Ben's rendition of the story.) 

Ben walks in, Braedon trailing close behind, camera in hand, recording the whole thing, Katie dies laughing at the table, and I... sit there speechless. Literally. My jaw hung open for a good couple of minutes before I regained enough muscle control to close it, again. Evidently the only thing I could manage at first was "Whaaa? Whaaa?? I... I don't understand! Wh... Whe... Where did you come from?!" to which I got a very innocent, "Brazil!" He even had to pull me up from the table for a  hug, I was so dumb-founded. It took a while but I eventually regained consciousness, just in time for the waitress to politely interrupt, asking what was going on. All I could get out was, "This... is my missionary. He comes home, next week! Or... so I thought." 

When I stopped shaking enough that I could hold a phone without dropping it, they had me call my mom. The conversation went something like this: 

"Mom?"

"I'm in a meeting, I can't talk!"

"Mom! It's important. I have to tell you who I'm with."

"What? Who? Make it fast, I'm in a meeting!"

"Mom... I'm here with Ben..."

"Who?"

"Ben!"

"Ben who??"

"Ben Stanfield!" 

"WHAT?! What is he doing HOME??"

Things started settling down just in time for them  to expose one more hidden plan: everyone was dressed up because we were all actually headed to a wedding, and I was Ben's date. We all went out to the cars, and as I was pulling my stuff out of Katie's car to transfer to Ben's, I turn around to him holding a beautiful, beautiful bouquet of flowers, loaded down with calla lillies, my all-time favorites. 

I didn't want to drive all the way into SLC with the vase between my legs so we drop them off at my apartment. We awarded my roommate Jessica with the reaction of the evening - after begging her to come out of her room, and upon first sight of Ben, (she had no idea who was waiting in the front room) yelled at the top of her lungs "OH! MY! GOSH!!!" She couldn't stop shaking, either. (The rest of my roommates found out moments later, each one of them taking their turns between screaming, crying, laughing, and screaming again. They're such good girls, I couldn't ask for a better support network! Lol)

So, we go to the reception, his parents are the first people we see, his mom running up to us with arms already open in anticipation of hugs.  After a while we head back to his parents' house and watch the first post-mission movie - "Over the Hedge". (His choice!) At the end of the night, he drives me back to my apartment in Provo, he meets the rest of my roommates, and we say goodnight, face-to-face, for the first time in two years. 

I haven't gotten the pictures from Katie and Braedon, yet, but when I do, I'll post them with the rest of the story. As for now, though, I think I'm going to go enjoy the time I have with my boy, again. :)