Italy, Part 1: The Setup

Okay, I think almost everyone knows this already, but just for posterity's sake, here is the story of how the Italy trip plan was hatched.

My mom and I have two mutual friends, Molly and Kristen. Molly is a professor and spends each summer with her family in Italy, where she teaches for an American college exchange program. This year, though, they are there for the entire spring semester. My mom has wanted to visit her there for years, as has our other friend Kristen. My mom's 50th birthday is next week, and months ago my dad told me he wanted to do something spectacular for her birthday. One day in November while having lunch with Kristen, I mentioned mom's birthday and asked if she had any ideas. She suggested, almost as a joke, taking her to Italy. We both got so excited, and by the end of the day it was all set up.

The thing to know about my mom is that she always figures out her surprises. She takes pride in it. So I was VERY determined that she wouldn't figure this one out. We kept it secret, and had her so off track that she truly never suspected a thing. I told her we were going to Branson for the weekend, and invented so many details about the trip that she never had reason to suspect otherwise. And, mwaaa! Our evil plan worked. We planned a 6 day vacation to Italy for my mom, Kristen and me, and she never had a clue.