I went with Rich's mom and step-dad to pick Rich up from the summer camp where he's working as a counselor. 2hours and 20minutes to Shawno. But it was okay because they had triscuts and gouda (it was good-ah...). Beforehand, I made cookies and put them in a container to give to Rich. The whole thing was a surprise for Rich and I tried to keep it a big secret and throw him off any suspicions with questions: "When are you getting home, do you think?" and "Will you call me as soon as you're back?"
So when we got out of the car at his camp, Chris stood outside his passenger seat door and I stood behind him and tried to make myself smaller (not an issue because I'm already small and Chris is considerably taller and wider). Rich's mom went forward a little and I could hear Rich come over and start talking to hear. His tone made it clear he did not see me (it was a 'things-are-predictable-and-nothing-unexpected-has-caught-me-off-guard-today' kind of tone). Chris continued to stand by the car as though waiting for them to get in the car. Rich went past him and was curving to get in the back seat when I looked at him and said in a soft exclamation, "Hey!" His face completely lit up and his happiness was so genuine. I thought, 'Excellent, he had no suspicions.' He gave me a big hug and whispered, "Hi."
YAY! He told me later seeing me made him the happiest he's been in weeks.
So he showed us around his camp and all the food in the kitchen he has free reign over. The river the camp is located on never gets higher than hip-height which I found funny, but perfect for the 8-14 year olds who go to the camp. Between pointing out and naming the different builings we got to hear about pranks and how Rich likes to sign his camp name - Rolling Thunder - super big on the kids' camp shirts.
When we got back to the car, I gave him his cookies. "These were my backup plan in case you weren't happy to see me." It was really good to see him. So that was Thursday...
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