The Terrifying Attack of the Surprise Letter

I love surprises! Surprises are really fun! You know, surprise birthday parties, surprise gifts. They're so great, right?! Except when it's something that is totally unexpected and freaks you out.

Elder Gibby wrote me a letter. And in this letter I found out some of the MOST TERRIFYING NEWS EVER! He had written my parents a letter and sent it to them! In his words:

"I wrote your parents. Just kind of told them a little about me... Sorry! I need them to know me a little! I hope they like me! So ya sorry it's been bugging me though because I want to know them a little! LOVE YOU SO MUCH"

My first reaction:

YOU DID WHAT?!?!? NOOOOOOO! 

And then I felt bad:

I know I should have properly introduced Adam to my parents... I really do. And I wished I would've. I met his mom and sisters back in January! But understand where I'm coming from. I've never told my parents anything personal. Hardly ever. It's that way with my brothers and sister, too. We talk to each other, but not our parents. Honestly, the main topic of conversation with my parents is academics. I never had that relationship with my mom where I told her about each of my crushes or things I struggled with. Don't get me wrong, I have a great relationship with my parents! It's just not an open-communication, say-whatever-you're-feeling sort of relationship. So imagine how difficult it was to tell my parents that I had a boyfriend in the first place (keep in mind, he's my first boyfriend)! And at that point, he was leaving on a mission in less than a month. I was so worried about what they were going to think.



So back in early February Adam had convinced me to finally be brave and tell my parents about him being my boyfriend, because he really wanted them to know about him. I had mentioned him to my mom over Christmas Break. I said he was going on a mission and she knew I had sent him a package for his birthday. All she said was, "Chanel, you're such a good friend for doing that for him!" HAH. Yeah... friend.... I wonder if she actually thought that or if she was just pretending to be oblivious for my sake...

Hmmm... Suspiiiiicious!

Anyway, I made up my mind to call my mom and tell her after she got off work, and HOLY COW I was nervous! We were talking about how school was going and whatnot, and I mentioned my friends Brandon and Nathanael. My mom asked, "Oh! Is he the one going on a mission?"
THANK YOU MOTHER FOR GIVING ME A PERFECT SEGWAY! :D

Exactly how I felt going into this.

So I told her that the one leaving on a mission was Adam. Aaaand since we were on the subject, that he was my boyfriend! Her reaction was so reassuring, it was great! She asked me about him, told me congratulations, and we giggled together. It was so great to be able to open up to my mom like that and have a fun girly moment with each other. Then I left it up to her to tell my daddy :)

Adam really is so great! Look at him, helping me get closer with my parents :)

ANYWAY, back to the main story of this post.

I called my parents to tell them to expect a letter from Adam, but they could feel free to throw it away if they didn't mind. I was kidding, of course! Well, maybe I was just a tad serious. I was incredibly paranoid about what he was going to say in that letter. Not that he'd say anything BAD, but what if he mentioned something about kissing me or something?? Not that he would, but I just get paranoid about everything...
Oh, by the way, my parents still don't know I had my first kiss. Yeah, that was almost four months ago...

My mom texted me a couple days ago and told me that they received the letter and read it. I called her up after I got off work, and my dad answered the phone. I hadn't really talked to my dad about Adam since he found out. This was more than a month and a half later... Oh boy. Just a little nerve-wracking. I asked him what was in the letter, and he offered to read it to me.

Adam began the letter by saying that he just wanted to let my parents know a little about himself, and he made a bullet list.
My dad read and narrated, "'I LOVE' he underlined and capitalized love..." My dad paused.

CRAPCRAPCRAAAAP. He's going to say "your daughter" or something! NOOO!

"'Sports!'" my dad finishes.
OH MY HOLY MUFFINS THANK GOODNESS.
I mean, I should have figured that'd be first on his list, but I was so relieved!

My dad moved on to the next bullet, "I LOVE' ... he underlined this one too, by the way! 'I LOVE..."
Seriously dad? Why are you torturing me with these pauses?!?!
"'Animals!'"
Okay, I should've seen that one coming too.

Anyway, the rest of the letter was just Adam telling about himself, and he thanked my parents for raising me the way they did.

My dad mentioned how in his letter he talked about his love for the gospel, and I told him it was so true! Elder Gibby has such a strong testimony and he's had such a positive influence on me! I explained more to him about that, then I also told him about the Book of Mormon that he had sent me. My dad seemed surprised about it, and mentioned that it seems like he's similar to my brother Adam (yeah, my boyfriend's name is Adam and my brother's name is Adam... It threw me off for a little, not gonna lie), which is true in a lot of ways! Both spiritually and in the way that he's a goof and that he doesn't get embarrassed or think things are awkward. It's a really good compliment coming from my dad though! 

My dad then said he was really impressed by Adam sending the letter. He said it shows a lot of character, and then compared Adam to my brother-in-law, Anthony, which is a HUGE compliment!! My parents really love Anthony and he is SUCH a fantastic guy (he's one of my favorite people!), so that's really good :) 

So baaaasically, my dad loves my boyfriend! :D

I wasn't too worried about my dad liking Adam. I mean, really, he's the most incredible guy I've ever met! Plus, my dad is a hardcore Mormon and LOVES the gospel and missionary work to death. No joke. Since Elder Gibby's on a mission, I didn't think there was too much to worry about, since he was practically already set! :) My dad said he'd write Elder Gibby, so he better prepared for a lot of gospel-filled letters! I wasn't kidding when I said my dad's a hardcore Mormon. ;)

Anyway, that's my most recent story of being paranoid and freaked out!

Hopefully soon I'll be getting an e-mail/letter from Elder Gibby! Seeing as how he just got to Mexico on Monday though, I'm not going to keep my hopes up too high, since he's probably super busy and overwhelmed. He DID just get into a new country that speaks a different language. I can be patient. :)

864 Days Left! :)