Some numbers:
17:32 – The time
Four – the number of hours ago that my last final exam finished
Three – the number of hours until I see my parents again

As I write this, I’m sitting in front of a bank of windows facing the darkened tarmac of the Vancouver International Airport. My flight leaves in fifty eight minutes and I’ve hardly been able to think about anything else since I woke up this morning.
It’s a little hard to imagine what it will be like living in my house and with my family again. I’ve only been gone three and a half months, but it feels like a lifetime has happened since I waved goodbye to my mom and dad on University Boulevard in late August. I don’t even know where to start with the stories when it comes time to share. But I have the Facebook pictures to back me up.
As I mentioned, my last final was this evening. POLI 100. It wasn’t that bad actually, though I freaked out and didn’t know what to write when I first read the essay questions. But that always happens to me.
I thought this post was going to be all about my reflections of my first term at university, but I think I’m too tired for that. And the fluorescent airport lighting isn’t exactly stimulating my creative genius.
Instead, let’s talk about surprises. I’ve been planning one for a while. A couple months ago, after I booked my flight home, I decided not to tell my little brother and sister when it was. The uncertainty is driving them crazy. My sister keeps texting me with what she thinks are sneakily crafted text messages like “so would Thursday night be too late for you to start packing then?” Since my plane lands at one in the morning local time, they won’t be coming with the parental units to pick me up. Which is even better, because now it’s going to be an even better surprise.
I won’t get home till around three AM so hopefully they’re sound asleep. I plan to wake up before they do tomorrow morning and hang around my kitchen so that when they come down for breakfast before school (ha, they still have that) I’ll just be nonchalantly drinking hot chocolate or something.

This is gonna be PERFECT.
Can’t wait to see the looks on their faces when they try to figure out how I appeared without them knowing about it. I imagine it’ll look something like this:

Boarding time is in eleven minutes. So stoked.