Surprise!

I started out my COLA rather quietly...doing paperwork/taxes/etc. at home. Then I decided "what the heck" and flew to VA on Friday without telling my Mom or my sister that I was coming.

When I arrived at the DCA airport, I took the Metro to the East Falls Church station and walked from there to Mom's apartment. It was around 7PM by then, and I knocked on Mom's door. You should have seen her face when I walked in! After visiting awhile and eating dinner, I took her car and drove over to my sister Diane's house to surprise her.

Her son, Matthew, was out front and I quietly asked him where his Mom was. I walked into the house and heard her in the kitchen with Natalie...I walked into the kitchen and said "Hi!" - her face was priceless! Happy Birthday, Diane!!! I stayed for a little while and then headed back to Mom's for the night.

Diane had made a deal with her kids that for her birthday, instead of a tangible gift they'd attend a Parrot show on Saturday at a local church, and she invited me to go, too! There were lots of people and beautiful birds. We listened to a lady talk about gardening for parrots and then called it a day. Most of the birds at the show were available for adoption, and fortunately we were able to get Diane out of there without adding to her family!

I spent the rest of the day with Mom at her place...napping, tutoring her on the computer, playing cards, and going to Mass.

On Sunday, I went with Diane and Matthew to an open house at Matthew's new high school. We got there early enough that we had time to drive around Leonardtown, MD and see the town and a bunch of neighborhoods. Nice place with some beautiful scenery. There are two rivers in the area, and this town is between them. Matthew's school is more like a college - located on a hill along the shore of the river. Not bad!

I had to come back to CO yesterday - and have been catching up on email, paperwork and such all day today. I hope to go back to VA again next week to hang out with my Mom and Diane a bit more...

COLAs sure are nice!