Operation: Surprise

Yesterday was a great, albeit long, day! My dad and his wife live several hours away and it has actually been about a year since I saw them last. Due to the knee operation that he was having, I decided that I would surprise the two of them with a visit. I hopped on the bus late Wednesday evening so that I arrived in town first thing in the morning. It was still early enough to see my father before he had the procedure and I was also able to be with my stepmother, keeping her company, while the surgery was taking place.

The operation went really well and my dad was positively elated when we saw him afterwards – I actually think he was probably still slightly under the influence of the medication he had been given during the surgery. Regardless, he was doing great and in a fabulous mood when I had to leave to catch the bus back home. I have received a couple of updates from his wife since I’ve been back and – although he has had to deal with some bleeding and general illness – he does still seem to be on the mend.

As I just mentioned, it has been approximately a year since I last saw my dad and his wife. Add that to the fact that I haven’t mentioned a word to them about my weight loss and you can imagine the reaction that I got when I rapped, unannounced, on their door and they opened it to see me standing there.

My stepmother answered my knocking, smiled pleasantly, and said, “hello”. I grinned back and replied with a ‘hi’ of my own and then, right as it dawned on me that she had no idea who I was, her eyes widened and she repeated her greeting with actual recognition as she figured out that it was me standing on the door stoop. She had honestly not known that it was me!

She excitedly ushered me in and within a few minutes my father joined us and was equally blown away by my transformation. He sat there for a good two minutes or so, staring at me and lightly shaking his head, while he kept uttered things like ‘wow’ and ‘you look great’. The best way that I can describe his reaction is that he actually seemed to need a few moments to compose himself as he came to terms with how different I looked. I would say that he genuinely needed that short time to just comprehend the dramatic physical changes I have gone through.

They were astonished! We chatted about what I have been doing and about what different types of lifestyle changes I have made. They had lots of questions and I was thrilled to answer each one. Both of them carry some extra weight – my father more so – and I think that it gave them both hope to see what can be accomplished with determination and hard work. My dad told me that I was inspiring. It was an amazing day and – even though the reasons for my visit were a little stressful – I had a wonderful time!