Nine months ago, we started to plan a surprise celebration of Pam's mother's 80th birthday. Mrs. Knight has long been an opera fan, attending simulcasts of Saturday Afternoon at the Met for years at the movie theatre in St. John's. Because of that, and because her last trip to to New York was in 1957, we decided to converge on New York to celebrate her 80th and to surprise her with opera tickets at the Met.
The plan depended on total secrecy, so very few people were let in on it. We arranged for June to fly to Halifax on April 17th, on the premise that she would spend her birthday with us and fly home on April 24th. On the night of April 19th, Pam announced to her that she would be flying to Ottawa the next afternoon, so that we could celebrate her birthday with Ken, Mandy and Serena. Upon arrival in Ottawa, instead of exiting the airport, Pam led her to US Departures, where she emotionally said, "Don't tell me we're taking another flight?!" It was at that point Pam announced the destination would be NYC.
Once inside US Pre-Clearance, Ken, Mandy, Serena and I were there to meet them. (I had been in Ottawa for meetings.) At 6:30pm, we all boarded our Air Canada flight to La Guardia Airport. Meanwhile, Greg, Kathleen and girls were on their way to Buffalo to catch a JetBlue flight to JFK Airport.
We arrived in NYC a bit early and all piled into taxis for the ride to our Hampton Inn in the Garment District (West 39th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues) of Manhatten.
By the time we arrived, we were all exhausted from the excitement and travel. Although Ken, Mandy and Serena ventured out to nearby Times Square, the rest of us called it an early night. Greg and family arrived just after 11pm.
The surprise and excitement made it all worth the secrecy and planning. And we look forward to the next few days, and a few more surprises ahead.
Ken, Many and Serena joined me in the US Pre-Clearance area at Ottawa Airport, where we waited for Pam and Mrs. Knight to arrive from Halifax.
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