LIFE LIST: SURPRISE VISIT SOMEONE IN ANOTHER STATE

* Yesterday was my Aunt's birthday, so in honor of her that is why I have been posting many of my Life Experiences that I have shared with her or that she has been a part of . I hope to go on many more of my adventures with her.

When: Easter 2004

Where: Maryland

Why I wanted to do this: Well, it wasn't real thought out, I was sitting around with two of my best girlfriends and we said 'hey wouldn't be fun to go on a road trip next week' and I said ' I know! we'll go to Maryland to surprise my Aunt!'

Girls-remember our bartender Edward?!

Cost: Gas and a little food...maybe a few hundred dollars shared between 3 people.

How I paid for it: It is very hard for me to believe this but I think I only had about $100 for the trip--I would NEVER do something like that now!!!! In fact it may have been 100 dollars that was available on a credit card....(I know it's no surprise that I am in credit card debt-let this be a lesson!)

What would I do differently? Something....... at least I should have called her boyfriend and ASKED HIM IF THIS WAS OK!!!!

Will I do it again? I would love to! BUT now that I have a child I don't think a 'surprise visit' to anyone is a good idea, I wish I would have planned more surprise visits to people before I had a baby.

Something I would recommend? YES!!! However, you have to be sneaky and discrete when trying to gather information about the person's schedule, AND you have to be prepared mentally and financially in the event that the individual is busy or maybe is not so happy to see you. So I think it's great, and best if it is only ONE PERSON making the surprise visit-it was really rude of me to show up in Maryland with two of my girlfriends whom my Aunt and her boyfriend had never even met.

Good gift/surprise? I think it is one of the most grand gestures to show someone you love them, it's a lot of planning, time, effort, money and courage as it could really backfire. You also have to make this decision based on the person's personality, it might not be something that is welcomed...now in my case I WOULD JUST LOVE A SURPRISE VISIT!!!!! Obviously this is only welcomed when it's out of state-a surprise visit from someone who lives in the same county as you is just pesky.

Life changing? Yes, of course, I have a great story, I learned from my mistakes, and it was on this trip that I had one of the most fun nights of my life-so I think that every time a great memory is created your life changes for the better.

My recollection of the trip: One day Crystal, Jenny and I were sitting around and came up with this terrific  idea on the spur of the moment to drive to Maryland and surprise my Aunt. So the next week we were off! The road trip itself was great, we laughed the entire time! Then when we arrived in Maryland we had a VERY difficult time finding my Aunt's house so I had to call her. She was out having drinks with friends and thought it was so funny that I had called her cell phone that she never uses (which I had to call her ex-husband and get the phone number) I said "Guess what? I'm in Maryland! I'm with Jenny and Crystal and we'd like to see you!" She was VERY SURPRISED. But Roxanne and Bob did welcome us with open arms and very sweetly she said to me "you're always welcome...just tell me about it first".

   I think we stayed 3 nights too! Which is probably too long for a surprise visit, although one of those nights we did stay at a hotel in Annapolis....which ended up being the most fun and wild night of my life spent in a bar called ACME! I won't go into to details as I do not want to compromise my friendships but we didn't pay for a single drink, we got 'pulled over' for j-walking, Jenny slept in the bath tub and I made plans that night to move to Maryland after someone promised me a job at Applebee's. I think all 3 of us will remember that night forever and giggle every time we think about it.

We had accidentally snuck in a case of rolling rock and then replaced the Corona case holding the condiments on the table.

Girls-remember me trying to open that door in front of those soldiers?! LOL