Surprise Part Three

Wednesday afternoon when Olivia got out of school for Fall Break, Michael came back from Terre Haute to pick us up and head to Anderson. We were a little nervous about how this particular surprise would turn out because we had already been in Indiana for over four days, and since we all have a lot of the same friends, we knew there was a chance that someone might inadvertently spill the beans. Lucky for us, no one did and we also had some pretty sneaky people on our sides. Christopher's girlfriend, Alison, was our big in and kept us current on their schedules and helped get some of Sarah's friends involved to make everything run smoothly. We knew that Sarah would show up in the RA office that evening because she thought she had to work (but her friends covered for her...they are saints, seriously!) so we showed up in the office a few minutes before she got out of chapel and it went a little something like this...

"Why are all these people in here, and why is that person taking pictures of me?"

Realization: cue piercing scream

Fall to the ground crying, laughing, and still screaming still.

Peel Sarah off the ground.

Hugging and more crying and asking how we're there.

Sarah is still not functioning while Michael and I die laughing at her reaction.

Hugs for Olivia.

And more hugs for Michael.

I don't think the phrase, "a picture is worth a thousand words" has ever been more true. So now that you've had a visual, here is a little word from Sarah explaining her side of the story...

Every other Wednesday night I spend three hours in the RA office, simply being available to the residents in my hall in case they need anything.  Last week was my duty night, and to be honest I was not that excited about it. All that week I had anticipated being in the championship intramural football game that night instead of working, but my team had taken a brutal loss the night before. It was the day before Fall Break, which calls for an overabundance of fatigue and stress. Needless to say, I wasn't looking forward to working. As I put the key in the door and slowly opened it, I became apprehensive as the light was already turned on. Even more suspicions came as two of my best friends were sitting there on the right as I lifted my head. "Hm, maybe they want to come hang out, cool! This won't be as bad as I thought!" And then I looked straight up. On the couch at the back of the room were 3 people I never thought would ever be sitting in that room, like ever. Smack dab in the middle, Michael Angelo Russell was smiling back at me. My heart skipped a beat. My mouth dropped. Next to him was a huge camera in front of a face, and as soon as my confused brain put two and two together, I realized that face belonged to Lexi. And on his other side of Michael was Olivia. When all of this actually registered, the shocked look turned into a loud, piercing, shriek. I fell, literally fell to my knees and just started crying. MY family? My DENVER family was sitting right in front of me? And no one had even told me?!  I didn't even consider the fact that I was in the middle of the hallway, on my knees, crying, all I could think about was Michael and Lexi were here. To see me. Lexi came over and hugged me, and I'm pretty sure I was too weak to hug her back. Now I know what you're thinking. This all sounds pretttty darn pathetic. But words cannot even begin to explain the joy that was in my heart. Just that day for my teacher interview I had a writing prompt about the person I admire the most, and I had written about my oldest brother, Michael. I never could have fathomed that at the very moment that my pen was expressing my love for him, he was driving hours upon hours to come see me. You might think I'm crazy for having such a dramatic reaction, but I think you're crazy for not realizing what an amazing family I have. I am so blessed. 

And there you have it. Obviously, it was a roller coaster of a reaction including just about every positive emotion known to man. But wipe your tears because it's time to move on to Christopher who after surprising Sarah was kind of a let down in the reaction category, but still just as fun. I'm kidding! His reaction was so him and it was great...

here we have Michael reading a newspaper as Chris walks in (as were the rest of us at the table, except for me, I hid behind the camera) 

and here we have Chris completely oblivious to the fact that there was anyone else in the room.

here he is assessing the situation.

still assessing.

and one last double take...

OOHHHHHH! WAIT, WHAAAAAT?

"I'm so happy I don't know what to do"

hugs all around.

and to top it all off, a lovely group shot...

In summary: SUCCESS 

more on the rest of our AU adventures to come! 

(no promises on when though...)