Surprise!

After a not to eventful, but not to restful flight I made it to Frankfurt. Ahhhhhh the sights, sounds, and smells of civilization. The Middle East may in fact be the cradle of civilization but they certainly have not moved much beyond that. The food smelled sooooo good and there were people everywhere and this was going on and that was going on. It’s not home, but it was a damn far bit closer than where I had just left!

Emily has been under the impression I would meet her in Rome. With some divine intercession and a little logistical planning I was able to get a seat on the same flight out of Frankfurt to Rome as Emily was on. Now all I had to worry about was her landing on time. Getting through security and to the gate on time. There was still so much that could keep us apart!

So I spent the next 5 hours researching what gate Emily was coming into. Could I get down there and meet her there? Unfortunately, no. Security is pretty tight in Germany, which is OK with me. You need to be ticketed to get down the terminal, even if you are already in another terminal. I was in terminal B, Emily landed in Terminal C and we flew out of terminal A. I made my way through security again, and got to our departure gate. I roamed around a while trying to pass the time. Finally it was getting pretty close to when I thought Emily should be getting to the departure gate so I made my way back.

I don’t think I have ever crept through the woods deer hunting with as much care and caution! I was looking at everything. The last thing I wanted was to run into Emily and ruin the surprise. I went past the gate and lurked, looking at every person in the gate area. I had to be careful as I know Emily sometimes goes a gate or two away if it is too crowded at the departure gate so she can sit and read.

I decided to move. I crept up the terminal, scanning every face. Left. Right. Oh shit! She was walking right toward me. Jump behind a column and hold my breath. Move like a cat stalking his prey around the column…ahhhhh. She’s walking along, never saw me.

I follow Emily almost to the gate. I watch her go in and look for a seat. I decide to duck into the latrine. I don’t want to be so excited I pee my pants! I slink out of the latrine. People are looking at me kinda funny as I am sort of crouched, just in case Emily decided to come up to the latrine. I make my way down to the gate. I am moving slow. Looking again at every person. I come around a pillar and see Emily sitting way off in the back and she turns towards me! Whew, never saw me. I am about 50 meters from her, but I have to approach from her right side. There is no way to sneak up behind her.

I watch. She is reading a magazine. I wait until I see her turn a page and then I dash. I get past the counter and am able to slip in behind her. Ok gotta be calm. There are a few tables behind her with a few people. I slip off my ruck. I ease up behind her. She is engrossed in a wedding magazine. Funny I think. So cute, she is so ready to marry me ☺. “Excuse me ma’am, can I help you with your bags?” Emily looks up she looks at me about to say something like “no thanks”. She sees me. She looks, blinks. Looks. Then the expression and the “Oh my gosh, what are you doing here??? Ahhhhhh. Eeeeeee.!”

It was so fun. We of course hugged and kissed, we somehow were able to keep a modicum of decorum about ourselves. She was so surprised. We sat and talked and waited. Then, like everybody else we shuffled onto the plane for Rome. Unlike everybody else though we were already the only place either of us cared about being….with one another.