I had some unexpected time off last week….. The Sunday before last started off as a perfectly normal day. I got up and met a friend at the beach for a dog walk, before returning home around 10am. I came in through the front door (with my friend who had come back for morning tea) and I could hear my little girl chatting away to herself, so I went in search of her to give her a big hug. I came back to close the door as my mum popped around the corner and shouted ‘surprise!’.
This may not be a big deal to most people, but for the fact that my parents live in the UK and I (along with my husband and little girl) live in Dunedin. I was so utterly overwhelmed and shocked that I couldn’t speak. In fact I nearly fainted- I think I only managed to stop myself because I had my daughter in my arms. The emotions that I experienced, well to be honest, I don’t think I could accurately describe the parts of excitement, amazement and happiness I felt (also a tiny bit of annoyance at not being able to countdown to a visit).
When I finally felt my mouth reengage with my brain (It took a good 30 minutes of mumbling to be honest, all the while looking like I had finely chopped copious amounts of onions thanks to the tears in my eyes) I was able to establish that my mum and husband planned this secret surprise trip and she was here for 2 weeks.
But my weekend got better… Not only had my mum turned up, she had the gift of a kitchen aid. When she showed me it, I decided I was actually hallucinating or dreaming, because surely life (through my eyes) didn’t get much better than my mum turning up on a Sunday morning, having blindsided me by flying half-way around the world and then presenting me with my own (black) kitchen aid.
As is happens, this months theme is family favourites. The term family favourite has a whole new meaning for me now. The first thing, which my mum and I made together on the eve of her arrival, in my new kitchen aid was a family favourite of mine – sticky ginger cake; a recipe which I look forward to sharing with you later in the month.
What are your family favourites?