It takes a lot to surprise this gal.

Seriously, it is quite hard to surprise me.

And I LOVE surprises.

But it's hard to catch me really off-guard.

In fact, there are really only two moments in my entire life that have knocked me out of my socks/took my breath away/made me feel like I was having an out-of-body experience because of the amount of surprise.

The first big surprise happened on my 21st birthday.

Gabe and I were in a major long-distance relationship.

He was in Iraq.

I was in Manhattan, KS.

This trip to Iraq didn't allow for hardly any communication.

And by that, I mean I received about 2 letters a month.

I got maybe 10 phone calls total in 7 months.

There was one point where I hadn't heard from him in over a month.

No letters. No e-mail. No phone calls.

Nothing.

Nada.

I asked his family: nothing.

I began to panic.

I had no idea if he was okay.

Then, I woke up on my 21st birthday.

Still no word from him.

I was just hanging in the sorority house when I heard,

"Angela, you have a caller" over the intercom.

I had NEVER had a "caller" before.

I mean, I was in a long-distance relationship.

So, I begin to walk down the stairs.

Suddenly, my "caller" walks out from another room with roses.

Perfectly safe and not in Iraq.

I fell down the stairs.

I couldn't believe it.

One minute, I was picturing the worst.

The next, I'm hugging my sweetie.

Talk about a surprise.

I mean, how do you top that?
Well, my friends.
That's easy.
You find this one morning:

Biggest surprise of my entire life.

And something tells me, nothing will ever top this one.