I knew exactly what “secret” this person wanted to tell me, and I wanted to know!!! It was Nicky’s theatre teacher, and she wanted to tell me what musical the high school will be doing next year.
This made me wonder, can I keep a secret? Of course my immediate response is, “Yes! Tell me!” But really, can I keep a secret?
A few days later, whilst keeping the secret that the musical for next year will be The Wizard of Oz (it has now been announced, and I can socialize again), I was tasked with keeping the biggest secret of my life. If you’re good at math, you can figure that I was then keeping two big secrets and wanted to burst!
Coping mechanism while keeping secrets: buy stuff
Nicky’s really good friend Addie (who played Marian to his Harold Hill in The Music Man) submitted her mission papers and got her mission call unusually fast (a week later). That was on Monday, and she planned to open her call on Wednesday night with a gathering of friends and family. Addie’s mom is LaLa, one of my best friends.
(Side note: if you want to hear about a complicated and beautiful friendship, this one’s it. At one point, my two kids were dating her two kids, and that makes for a wonderful and horrible experience all at once. So far we’ve survived the breakups, but we both need serious therapy).
Anyway, Addie and LaLa decided they’d like to have a paper copy of Addie’s call for her to open, so LaLa asked me if I would open Addie’s mission call and print it, then put it in an envelope and bring it to the house that night for her Opening. I did this on Wednesday afternoon, and I tried to do so without looking at the call myself, but in my peripheral vision, I caught it!
Brazil!!!
I was doing this at Lala’s house, so she was watching me retrieve the paper from the printer, and I confessed, “I saw it! I saw it!!!”
Then I had to live through the longest seven hours of my life.
Trying not to burst!
I almost blew it unintentionally several times while talking to LaLa. LaLa had mentioned to me once that she thought it would be fun to get Addie a flag for her mission and maybe she would have someone look at the mission call and buy a flag to bring to the Opening. LaLa didn’t ask me to get a flag, but since I knew Addie was going to Brazil, I called Colonial Flag and asked if they had a Brazilian flag. They did! And they only had one! So I sped down to their storefront and got it.
Getting ready to steam the flag
Meanwhile, I wanted to burst! This bit of information was just too exciting and too good! I kept texting Addie and LaLa and various times of the day “5 more hours!” “Is it 9:00 yet?” “2 more hours!”
LaLa analyzed everything I said during my secret keeping hours. We probably should have ceased all communications until the Opening, but that’s not how we roll. I was so careful to not give any clues. I think LaLa was expecting a state-side mission call, and I had to just let her speculate and not react. It was so much fun, and yet, so painful. I just wanted to climb on the roof and shout, “Addie is going to Brazil!”
It was so fun to gather at Addie’s house and finally see her open her call and be relieved of my secret keeping obligations. The event was well attended, and we stood shoulder to shoulder. Addie was so sweet and emotional. It was so great to share the moment with her.
Addie with her envelope
A small portion of the crowd
No one guessed Brazil
It’s been very exciting to have my son receive his own mission call and to see many of his friends opening theirs. So far we have missionaries going to Hungary, Puerto Rico, Cancun, Philippines, Paraguay, California, Dominican Republic, Tennessee, and Australia (and I’m sure I’m missing a few). How cool is it that this little group of friends is going to disperse all over the world?
Now… does anyone else need me to keep a secret?
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