My best surprise is when my boyfriend called me at work on our fifth anniversary and told me to go home and pack my bags. He wouldn’t tell me where we were going or why, but after a four hour drive in the middle of the desert we hit Vegas! After checking in to our hotel room, he broke out two rings - one was the engagement ring and the other was a wedding band. We were married within hours! We went back home the next day to surprised family and friends. That had to be the shortest engagement I’ve ever heard of.

Have you ever been so surprised that it took a while for it to sink in? That happened to me during my best surprise…

My boyfriend of two years told me that he had something special planned for my birthday one year and asked me to keep a date open with no plans. He wouldn’t give me any hints except that he didn’t want me to eat dinner and wanted me to dress warm. For some reason, I had it in my head that we were going to do some snowshoeing by moonlight up to a yurt and have dinner under the stars. I’m not sure how I got that in my head… I think I just wanted to do that someday.

So, I bundled up and we headed out. He told me we had to stop at one of my favorite bars to drop off a set of keys for friends who locked themselves out. So, I ran the keys in - thinking we needed to hit the road to get up to the mountains! Little did I know that all of my friends and family were inside the bar waiting for me. When I rushed in and saw everyone - and even after I heard the “surprise” - it took a while for everything to sink in. There was no snowshoeing in my future! I was going to celebrate my birthday with all my loved ones around - thanks to a wonderful gift from my boyfriend. It was a special night, and I have just one regret… I wish I wore a different outfit! I was all bundled up for snowshoeing, not decked out for my own party!
Fashion aside - I had a great time!!

My biggest surprise happened in the middle of a lightning storm in the saddle of two 14,000 foot peaks.

My boyfriend and I were part of a large group of friends that were backpacking from Lake City to Telluride. We topped out 3 fourteeners and six 11,000 plus foot peaks.

On our journey up the second fourteener, the entire group found themselves in the middle of a very dangerous lightning storm. My boyfriend was up ahead of me about to top the fourteener. He came running down, scooped me up and we huddled, with the rest of the group behind a large rock formation-waiting for the storm to pass.

Suddenly, I saw my boyfriend pacing in front of me saying “this is it…this is it…” He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. He used a gum wrapper as a makeshift ring.

His proposal was as much a surprise to him as it was to me. Needless to say, I accepted and we’ve been married for 8 years. We still joke to this day wondering…if we find ourselves caught in another lightning storm-will we change our minds?

We’ve never experienced another lightning storm and we’ve never changed our minds.

One of the biggest surprises of my life was one of the biggest changes of my life. Who would expect some thing/ someone so small to change my life from down side up and make me who I am today?

It was about two and a half years ago; I was only 16 years old, a sophomore at South H.S. I was sent home from school because I wasn’t stable enough to walk or stand, I was throwing up, my body was shaking out of control, and I couldn’t eat or do any thing. I felt so sick; I’ve never ever felt that way before and will never ever forget that day. I was brought to the hospital by my bother in-law; we waited there until I was given a room. Once I was place in a room, a nurse had drawn blood from me, had asked me to give a urine test and left me in the room to rest. After being in a room all alone, I heard a doctor speak and called my name. At first I thought I was dreaming, she woke me up and asked how I was feeling, I looked up at her and said fine. She had given me the biggest surprise of my life. She had told me that I was pregnant; I didn’t have any thing to say, I lied there just looking for an answer to reply back to her but I couldn’t, I was speechless. Since that day I had promised myself that I will do what I can to give my child the best, that I will give my child the future he deserves; if that means finishing school and going to college, working at the same time; than that’s what I’ll do. My child has given me the strength and motivation to overcome my obstacles and achieve my goals. If it wasn’t for that day that I received the biggest surprise of my life, I don’t think I would have the motivation to be where I am or become the person I am today. The biggest surprise of my life is now the biggest change of my life and the world to me. Every thing I’ve done is and everything I am reaching for is all for my son

My best surprise story is not one pulled on me, but rather one I pulled on someone else…well, two someones actually. With a little help from my great aunt, and a lot of sneaking around and planning, I was able to surprise my wonderful parents with a 20th Wedding Anniversary party.

Using my parents’ original wedding registry as a guest list, I proceeded to invite every living guest and attendant to their surprise party. We had family and friends come from all over the country. Everyone volunteered to bring a food item, which added a huge touch of nostalgia to the event: my parents’ wedding reception was a potluck, with every guest bringing a dish to share. My great aunt, who had baked and decorated their original wedding cake, volunteered to create another three-tiered baker’s masterpiece for the anniversary party. All of the wonderful attendees also brought gifts, old photos, and warm memories of the love my parents have shared with each other and our family throughout the years.

Most importantly, my parents had no idea about any of this until cars just started pulling into the driveway and parking wherever there was space, even on the front lawn! My mom was so stunned she couldn’t even speak, much less cry! It was a wonderful day full of brilliant, heartfelt memories. I am lucky to have parents that have been married so long, have been in love with each other so long, and this surprise party was the least I could do for them to demonstrate my immense appreciation and gratitude.

I think the biggest surprise and fondest memories I have is of my late grandfather. We were in the airport and him and my grandmother were coming to say goodbye to me before my flight to Toronto, My grandfather and grandmother are heavily Dutch and both were in the Dutch resistance during WWII. As we were walking through the airport my grandpa stopped and looked over at another old man. He walked up and was in tears, other old man looks up and they are so shocked, they hugged and talked and it was one of the most amazing things I had ever seen. During the War an American pilot was shot down near their town, my grandfather hid him for 2 years from the Germans saying he was deaf and mute, once he went back to the States they sent letters from time to time but it was about 30 years since they last saw each other. It was one of the biggest surprises of my childhood seeing my grandpa in tears and the fact they recognized each other like they talked the previous day really hit me hard. I think I’m a much better person from his strengths and I’ll never forget him.

I went camping at Yosemite when I was in second grade and discovered my raging passion for the outdoors.

The day after I got back from said camping trip, I begged my parents to take me again. Being the awesome but silver-tongued parents that they were, they declined my request but extended a promise to take me again “some other time”.

But that wasn’t good enough.

So being the creative youngster that I was, I invited some of my friends over and decided to have a camping trip in my own backyard. Of course, I had to ask for my parents permission, but that’s easy when you’re 8 years old and still have a voice that’s naturally annoying to the human ear.

They come over and we commence our camping trip. We start off with by exploring the entire area, taking our time to cross the raging rapids of the stream created by our water hose and climbing the mountainous ranges of pebbles that formed a trail in our yard. After a long and exhausting expedition, we started upon our next activity: a safari. Looking for elusive specimens such as the ladybug, the ant and the worm, it was an endeavor worthy of it’s own story but nay, the climax to this one lies yet ahead.

After that and a couple of some other activities which failed to score as high on the brilliance scale as the previous ones, it was getting dark and it crossed my mind that no camping trip would be complete without a nice fire and some roasted marshmallows.

So, with parental supervision mind you, we started a small fire out of some twigs on a tiny patch of dirt in the yard. And “found” a few twigs from the neighbors tree extending into yard. So in feverish anticipation we all started spearing our marshmallows. And at that very moment, almost as if heralding our wondrous festivity, the sound of multiple firetrucks rang out from the distance.

And it got closer.

And closer.

And closer.

Till it stopped right in front of our house.

So me and my friends there in the backyard just looked at each other. The emotions on our face vivid displays of horror, befuddlement and everything in between. After a quick moment to regain our composure, and put out the fire, we all rushed out of the house and into the front yard.

And there, right across from our house, barely being contained by our neighbors nice two story pride and joy, was a fiery blaze the likes of which I had yet to see but in movies and media. And the firemen lined up, three of them, holding the hose, trying to fight off the fire like trio of oddly dressed peasants fighting off a dragon of mythical proportions.

And there, standing in front of their own house, were my neighbors, gaping and sobbing in disbelief.

Then they saw us.

And in this one moment, several things happened at once.

1. They gave us a very very very angry glare.

2. We recoiled in horror from across the street, for that glare had enough spirit in it to choke a bison.

3. The climax of this story finally reveals itself.

So what was it that made them look at us like that? To produce such anger in such a time of painful agony? Perhaps those weren’t the exact thoughts running through our mind, but it probably came very very close.

Then I realized it, like some dark joke in a childrens book where all the most beloved characters suddenly die in twisted ways, with the villain on the sidelines laughing its maniacal laughter. I didn’t have to look far to see what it was about us that angered the neighbors so.

I just had to look down, at my own hands. And the hands of about five of my friends, which were still firmly gripping the marshmallow shish-kabobs.

(So yah, basically the neighbors thought we wanted to cook marshmallows over their burning house. =D )

About six years ago, my now wife and I were blessed to find out that she was pregnant. This while a suprise in itself is not the story, the story is how we told the “Grandmothers”. We took two of the ultrasound pictures and taped them into two separate cards for our mothers both signed Merry Christmas Grandma! The first to recieve her card was my Mom who initailly failed to spot the ultrasound image because she was gushing over the card itself (she’s like that) when she finally looked at the inside and saw the image she turns beet red and screams WHOOAAAA, hugs us both and takes a seat. Once it finally sunk in that she was about to be a grandmother that was all she talked about for the rest of the night. Second was my wifes mother, who rarely gets excited. Funny thing is she didn’t initally see the ultrasound image either, what caught her eye was the word Grandma. I believe her exact words were “why does this say grand… oh, OH, OH!”