A little lie.

The plan was perfect.

Nearly perfect, that is.

I mean, can it ever be perfect perfect?

My sister and I had one job and one job only: get my mom to a certain location at a certain time on a certain date.

She wasn’t to know as to why. That part was supposed to be a surprise.

My sister, being the actress in the family with a degree in theatre, made up a story about having a girl’s day; and so, on this ordinary afternoon, we all met at the coffee shop in preparation for this supposed “girl’s day.”

While the plan started off on the wrong foot (Mom was late and remember we had to be at a certain location at a certain time on a certain date), we managed to get her to the location just in the nick of time.

Unfortunately, we didn’t know how to get her inside, which is where she needed to be. She’ll suspect something’s up for sure, we mused.

Making up yet another little lie along the lines of: “I sold something online and I’m meeting someone here and he’s a man and I don’t want to go in alone will you go with me?”, Mom fortunately agreed to come in with us.

Whew.

Curious as to why my dad’s, and my gem’s and my brother’s car was there, things became a little more challenging when we went inside to what looked to be a social gathering.

One thing about my mom: she does not like social gatherings, especially when she suspects something is up.

And so she tried to leave.

Physically blocking her from exiting the building and potentially ruining our carefully crafted plan we had worked so hard on, we tricked her into thinking that this “social gathering”was actually in honor of our dad and his participation as a small business owner for the city of Soldotna.

Which, we weren’t lying about, as it was actually an awards ceremony.

That seemed to convince her, for she decided to stay.

Little did she know.

As the lunch went on and they went down the list of categories of all the various individuals and businesses that were benefiting the City of Soldotna, we finally arrived at the last award: Chamber Business of the Year.

Starting off with, “This family of five originally came from the city of Los Angeles”, it was then that it clicked for her.

We weren’t having a girl’s day. We weren’t meeting someone here to sell clothes. And this celebration wasn’t for my dad. It was for my mom: my sweet, selfless, humble, incredibly deserving, and totally unsuspecting Mom.

We all burst into tears at that point, my mom especially.

Huddled over in emotion, we all smiled with tears in our eyes as the announcer told the true story of my mom and what her affinity for trains turned into.

brew@602, Addie Camp, and fresh365, all byproducts of my mom’s empty nest syndrome, have since turned into three very successful businesses; and today, she was recognized for all of the hard work that went into them.

And as I sat there, I suddenly became overwhelmed with joy. Holding hands with my gem, who has been just a part of this journey as the rest of us, I felt filled with what I can only describe as pure joy.

See, a recent experience had me doubting my writing.

Faced with the insecure notion that what I wrote wasn’t relevant or what should be written about, there was a brief moment in which I doubted the very core of who I was and what inspires me to write.

But as I’m sitting there at this awards celebration, surrounded by those I love and feeling this overflow of joy and the urge to get to a keyboard and share this jubilation with you, I realized something: these are the moments in which compel me to write. These are the experiences that deserve recognition on my blog, alongside all the other heartbreaks and comedies I write about.

And not doing so? Well, it would be a disservice to what makes my heart sing.

I write when I am moved. I write what I experience, what I observe, what I live. I write every single day believing that everything is copy and that it is through storytelling that we can connect and learn about who we are.

I feel especially compelled to share stories like this because I believe in beauty, honesty, and joy just as much as I recognize and accept that life is about balancing these moments with the pain we experience. Knowing and accepting that there will be bad days, bad experiences, and bad people that walk in and out of our life, I hold on to celebrations like these just a little tighter knowing that it is equally as important to celebrate the good as it is to learn from the bad.

It is the little things that make up the tapestry of life.

And it is the little moments like these that hold the most meaning.

Being with those I love most on that day, though it was executed on a little lie, brought me to the realization that the stories I choose to share are an expression of who I am. Everything I write comes from my heart and I should never apologize for sharing what is my creative expression.

My mom, without even realizing it, not only inspires those around her with her business endeavors, but her accomplishments inspire little ole me.

She reminds me that it’s moments like these that make the world a prettier place.

Even if we get there because of a little lie.