SURPRISE!!!

Surprises are the best.

Kelly, Rachel, and I have been best friends since the beginning of high school. When Rachel mentioned the idea of coming to Italy to visit when we were skyping on July 4th, I kind of didn’t believe her. She said she had found some cheap one-way flights to Paris in July. On July 7th, I got an email from her husband, Mike, saying the tickets were bought and now we needed to plan a two-week backpacking vacation to Europe. They would be in Europe on July 16th.

Awesome!

We decided they should come to Firenze after Hillary left, when Kelly was still in town. But we didn’t tell Kelly.

So I sent secret emails, had secret skype dates, and one secret phone call. Then on Tuesday the 20th, my doorbell rang. Kelly was just sitting on my bed reading. I quickly went out to get them and quietly told them where to find Kelly in my apartment. Rachel just stood in my doorway. Then Kelly looked up and her face dropped. She started screaming. Then they were jumping and screaming together. Hugging too. All at once. Mike and I just stood back and laughed. It was awesome.

Kelly, please don’t kill me for posting these. I know you don’t read my blog anyways, so I think I’m safe.


After the reunion, we explained to Kelly how everything had transpired. I admitted to all of the “misleadings” I had given her. She said she had never been surprised before!

Then we decided to take a quick walk and show the Checchia’s around, including the wonderful gelato at Vivoli’s.







We had a delicious dinner at a restaurant on my street. We were all very thankful we ordered an appetizer of mozzarella di bufala and prosciutto. It was heaven in my mouth. We hadn’t all been together since Christmas, so we had lots of laughs and lots to talk about. Both my best friends in Italy! I am truly blessed.