Faking it.

Last February I purchased tickets for the family to see Marianas Trench in concert (A Canadian pop band... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHyYzezYWe0 ) but didn't tell the kids.  They continued to hear ads and continued to wish they could go.  They've never been to a rock concert before.

Last week YoungerChild pleaded to be allowed to go, wanted to use her own saved-up money to buy tickets, no less.  It was agonizing but we managed to continue to deny her the concert, telling her tickets are expensive, the show is sold-out, anything we could think to tell her other than "the truth".

We managed to stay completely mum.  Concert day arrived and I developped a plan to keep the secret right until we arrived at the stadium.  I kept the girls thinking they were going to their regular activities at the YMCA.  I "accidentally" lost track of time so that they were running a little late, but that's OK, we'll still get there.  Then Hubby called home pretending to be very sick and needed to be picked-up at work.  So off we went, but in the wrong direction for the YMCA.  As we neared his office I apologized to the kids that I should have dropped them off at the YMCA first, because now they were going to be a full half-hour late.  They weren't very happy with me but without anything they could do to alter the situation they accepted my apology.  With hubby safely in the car I headed to the expressway - the fastest way to the YMCA.  But oh my: I took the wrong exit.  ElderChild lamented "It's like we were never meant to get to the "Y" today!".  I held my tongue and pulled into the nearest parkinglot, explaining I would just turn the car around so we could get back onto the expressway.  And then I promptly parked in that lot.  The kids had confused looks on their faces, not quite having realised that we were at the stadium.  I sighed, as tho I was exasperated with the drive... reached into my purse... and produced the concert tickets.  It took a moment for the kids to realise what was going-on...

SQUEALS, SCREAMS, CHEERS, HUGS!!

Once we were inside and had found our seats, YoungerChild leaned over to me and said "Mommy, you fake "taking a wrong turn" much better than Daddy fakes being sick!".