Friends in town

I love having things to look forward too. I'm big on surprises and I'm big on being able to have something in the distant future to be excited about. This year I got to have lots of experiences that fall into both those categories but few have been as fun as the visits we received from our friends Dave and Morgan.

Dave strung us along all year. "Yeah...I don't think I'll be able to make it out. I'd really like to but...yeah it's probably just best for us to just wait until you guys get back to Michigan." Lies. All lies. This little bugger had been secretly plotting and planning since November with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law to stealthily descend on Vancouver for a five day extravaganza about a month ago.

We never saw it coming. I talked to him the day before he showed up and he was still playing it cool as could be. "Yeah it was good to talk to you too. Hopefully we can talk more soon...bye." More deception.

So then there we were warming up for our show when all of a sudden my brother-in-law Mike pokes his head in, a wild and scared look in his wide eyes. His voice trembled with anxiety "Ryan, Jacqui. I need to talk to you right now. Something happened at home." My heart slowly slid down into my stomach. I had visions of a burned out shell of an apartment charred to a crisp because I left a burner on or a thoroughly burgled apartment robbed because of my negligent door locking skills.

We followed him, our hearts pounding, through a divider curtain and all of a sudden were confronted by a grinning Dave smugly smiling like a mid-western Cheshire cat.

We freaked out.

His visit was a whirl wind tour de force. We seriously packed in about 2 weeks worth of crazy fun into 5 days. Our heads were spinning and there were few nights when our heads hit our respective pillows before 2am. It was so fun to show Dave around Vancouver. There's just something about having a friend to share your city with that colors that city in a new light. You're really reminded of all the reasons you like where you live. It's just a fun thing to share. Dave's visit was a true treat, a joy, and a definite surprise.

Next post I'll fill you in on Morgan's visit which was of the "having something to look forward to" variety (And we're actually still in the middle of his time with us--he's currently making witty quips as we root for the U.S. as they try to fend off Italy in World Cup craziness). Till next time!

GO U.S.!