My brother-in-law loves surprises. As in, he loves to surprise other people. Especially when he can travel halfway around the globe in order to do so. Made easier by the fact that he lives in Seoul, South Korea.
A few years back, Joe’s grandfather was turning 90 and we were all meeting in L.A. for his birthday party. Dave claimed he wasn’t going to make it back for the party, then showed up DURING the actual luncheon and surprised his mom and dad. That time, he had let me and JOe in on his little secret.
Well, Dave has been talking about wanting to meet his neice for two years now. Every time we send him pictures or movie clips, he goes on and on about how much he loves and misses her. Life has been busy for him, as it is for all of us, and travelling halfway around the world, even in this modern day of airplanes and all, still means about 24 hours of travel and a significant chunk of money. All this Spring he swore he was coming home for Julie’s birthday, then gradually started hinting that it wasn’t going to happen because of his new job. And finally a couple of weeks ago he told his parents that he wasn’t coming.
And Friday afternoon, I get a call from Joe. Joe’s mom had just called to say that his dad was on the way to the airport to pick up Dave. Surprise! Neither Joe or I were floored with surprise after the time in L.A. But we are pleasantly surprised that he’s here.
Although we weren’t fully prepared for houseguests, what with the guest room being currently full of our new kitchen cabinets, we do have a comfortable futon couch on which Dave crashed Friday night after finally meeting Julie, eating a paella dinner which I had luckily planned to make anyway, and sitting around chatting with us for a while.
Watching Dave play with Julie is undescribably fun. He is obviously making up for lost time, and doing a great job of it. He took my advice when I told him to let her come to him – to give her some time to warm up – and it worked. She loves him, and he can’t get over all the little things she does. Plus, he loves playing with her toys. He spent about an hour rearranging her dollhouse Friday night after Julie went to bed. I’m not even going to tell you how much he enjoyed the crayons. It is so cool to see your beloved child through adoring new eyes that pick up all the little things that we love, but have come to taken for granted. Dave has always had a knack for coming up with zingers and funny commentary on everything, and it is playing out perfectly in relation to Julie. He has been in awe of how much she talks, how much she eats, all the things she can do like climbing the stairs and slurping noodles.
I am so glad he finally made it back. He will only be here till Tuesday, which is too bad. He is going to miss out on so many every day things. He is going to miss out on the baby stage with our new little one as well, and I know if he were here to see it he would love that part too. Some day, he could make a great daddy in his own family. But it will be exciting again when he finally does come back, to marvel at our little family and reflect all the joy we see and feel every day, but that gets lost in the hubbub of diaper changes, cooking meals, and daily grind. Thank you, Dave. We love you.