Surprises!

The night before her birthday, my Mum had a dream that I had come home to surprise her for it. The dream was so vivid that she had to ring me when she woke up just to assure herself that I was definitely in Ireland. So of course when I answered my Irish mobile I confirmed to her that "Yes, of course I am still in Ireland!" - little did she know I was standing outside Sydney airport!

Although I had an early morning flight, I didn't surprise my Mum until that evening when she was out celebrating her birthday at a restaurant with about 30 of her friends and family. Her first surprise was the arrival of her Irish friend Judy who had travelled over with me. Judy and Mum grew up together in Cork and are still very close friends so the reunion was a tearful one.

However, just as she was still getting over the shock of that arrival, I walked in! Although most of Mum's friends and our family knew that Judy was coming, almost no-one knew that I would turn up so I was a shock to pretty much everyone! Everything went perfectly though and the surprise was fantastic - thanks to Clodagh for keeping the secret from everyone and helping me to set it all up!



Mum's surprises weren't over either! On the Saturday night Dad had organised a big surprise party for her and as that day just happened to be St. Patrick's Day as well, the party took on an Irish theme - one which everyone really got into the swing of!



As I had told virtually no-one that I was going to be home, I also set about surprising most of my friends wherever I could in the 9 days I was home. A party at the 'White Lady', a lunch at Kath & Dave's, and a lunch out in Takapuna. It was loads of fun surprising everyone and a great way to catch up with a lot of my friends in the short time that I was home. Sorry to all those that I didn't get to see though!



And, as he was also back visiting his home town of Christchurch, Johnny's Best Man Craig came up and stayed with me for the weekend that I was home, visiting venues and going to parties with me.

Of course my main priority of the trip was to spend some time with both my family and Johnny's so I made sure I did that - taking the Mum's and Sisters (apart from Janice who couldn't make it) out for a 'spa day' of massages and facials, and taking both families out for dinner on my last night in Auckland.



As if that wasn't enough, I also managed to squeeze in visits to all sorts of reception venues to look at for our wedding!

So it was a whirlwind 9 days at home but it was fantastic to see everyone again and to be at 'home'. I still miss NZ loads and this trip just reinforced my longing to be back there. However, I know I will be back there in a years time which will come around in no time!