I Bought the Golden Ticket!

Growing up we lived next door to the Cooper Family. They had 4 daughters and 2 sons. Once I wormed my way into their hearts, those numbers changed to 5 daughters and 2 sons!! Whether they liked it or not, they had no choice! I was hooked to them like the kid at school without any lunch money! I have been friends with their daughter Heather for 27 years now! If that doesn't make us Sisters, I don't know what does! Close to 3 months ago, I got a call from Heather telling me to check my email. And since I always do what Heather says, (to keep the peace!), I got on and checked it. Kari, another one of the Sisters (who lives in Pennsylvania), had written me the sweetest letter making me aware of Mom and Dad Cooper's 40th Wedding Anniversary. The family had planned to throw a big party near Thanksgiving to celebrate. 3 out of the 7 of us live in Pennsylvania and they would all be together there at that time. Kari then went on to invite me to come and be a part of it with them and let me know it would mean the world to them to have the "Whole" family there to share it in all. I cried as I read the letter. It meant the world to me that they would think to invite me. I immediately called Heather back and the first thing she said was, "Are you going to come? I think I'm going. Wouldn't it be So fun for us to go together and surprise my parents?" As we talked, I wanted SO badly to be able to go. The ironic thing was, all of my bills from my MRI's and Dr.'s visits from July had all shown up in the mail that very day. I told Heather I couldn't stand the thought of not being there with all of them, but it just wasn't possible for me to buy a plane ticket and go at that time. Within a few days, Heather bought her ticket and started making plans. Every time we talked over the next month, the topic of the Anniversary Party came up. In the back of my mind, I kept thinking, "I've just got to find a way to get there!" Towards the first of October, as Heather and I were talking, I got the brilliant idea to call my Dad and offer to have him hire me as his housekeeper again for a couple of months to earn money for a ticket. Heather thought this was brilliant too and begged me to call him. Dad was all over that idea! He had furniture, bedrooms and hallways that needed to be painted and remodeled and I was just the person to get that done for him! So, to make a long story short.......when ticket prices came back down, I bought a ticket and took off to Kennett Square Pennsylvania........ "Mushroom Capitol of the World." Heather flew out on Wednesday Nov. 17th, I flew out Thurs. Nov. 18th, and Mom and Dad Cooper drove in from Michigan on Friday the 19th. Everyone kept it a secret that Heather and I were flying out......so we hid in the study of Kari's home and when they walked in the back door we pushed Heather's 1 year old out the door to crawl to them. We followed behind yelling "Surprise!!" We hugged and laughed and talked about how many times the secret had almost been blown for over a half hour! We were all so excited and happy to be together.That night was Kari's 8 yr. old's baptism. She had asked that I play for it and that Heather and I sing the song I wrote for my children's Baptisms. The drive to her church was amazing. Think of a landscape Christmas card.....and that was it - Rolling hills, fences, barns, trees, small winding roads......I loved it! When we got to the church and realized the program would be in the Chapel, we all laughed because the piano was in the corner on the stand. Heather and I would not be able to be seen, only heard on the microphone. We quickly decided that was weird and recruited Sister Christi to sing with Heather, and I would mysteriously join in on the chorus from the corner! It all worked out beautifully and the baptism was amazing. After wards, back at Kari's, Heather and I let some of our darkest secrets out of the bag and had the entire family, including nieces and nephews eating out of the palm of our hands. We laughed until we cried over the fact that Heather and I used to sleep with our bums together because we heard that would make us Siamese Twins!! The night only got worse when we all gave our own definitions of what Siamese twins are! HILARIOUS!!! It hurt to laugh by the time we went to bed.Over the next few days, we shopped til we dropped at Peebles (loved that store!), played Red Rover at Camden's Birthday party, got back rubs from the real twins, Anna and Emily, and ate a ton of food!Sunday, after church, we drove 3 hours to CaMarie's home in Willamsport! We had been dying to see this amazingly gigantic home they built and just moved in to! It was everything we had imagined......beautiful! Set back in the woods, candles in every window, deer eating in the front yard as we went to bed, slides to get to the basement, 4 floors, 5 acres and a barn filled with animals down in back! CaMarie teaches early morning seminary Mon.-Fri. at 6 a.m. When I heard that she truly can get 19 kids to come at 6 a.m. to learn about the gospel, I just had to wake up and witness it for myself. I told them I thought they were so incredible for doing that. They feed them breakfast after class each time too which I'm sure helps! After the first morning, CaMarie asked me if I would teach them the next day and share with them my experience with helping a Sister I served with in the Stake YW's write a song. I was excited when she asked me to do this, but that meant getting up at 5:30 again!I couldn't wait to get down to the barn and "Pick some Eggs!" They taught me it's actually called "Gathering the eggs!" Whatever. I just knew I wanted to do it! So, I did what any self respecting city girl would do and I put on my high heels and went to work!Again, we talked and laughed, ate more good food, met Marion and toured her awesome cottage, and visited Kristi's cool as heck home. I told her she has the attic that stories are written about. It was the neatest old attic I have ever been in. It had such a spooky, cool feeling to it that I wished I was Nancy Drew!After a couple of days, we packed up the car and headed back to Kari's. On our way, we stopped at the Hershey Factory and toured through Lancaster - Amish Country -
thanks to Abe's Buggy Rides!Back at Kari's, we made the final preparations for the Anniversary party. Mom and Dad Cooper knew we were having dinner, but what they didn't know was that each family had prepared a special presentation to honor them. There were games, talks, singing, music slide shows, and gift giving at a fancy restaurant. What an awesome night for an amazing couple! Everyone really went all out.....the grandkids even snuck out from dinner to decorate the Bride and Groom's car - "Just Married.......40 years ago!"It was the perfect ending to the perfect trip! I wouldn't have missed it for the world. I am so grateful I have had the great blessing and privilege to be a part of this wonderful family for the last 27 years. You meant the world to a little girl all those years ago, and continue to mean the world to her today. Thank you all for opening your hearts, your families and your beautiful homes to me. And thank you to my sweet hubby, for taking on the Mom/Dad duties for a full week, and picking me up at the airport on Thanksgiving morning, just so I could be a part of this. I love you all, dearly.