Surprises Don’t Surprise Me

_{Most probably the poisonous type, much like some people's thoughts...}

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The element of surprise…
Is it related to age?
Because nothing surprises me much anymore...

Anyway, the thing is that there haven't been any significant surprises in life. It’s not like I've ever suddenly received some big news... And here I’m only talking about good surprises. Because bad news is never a surprise, it’s just chaos waiting to happen.

Or maybe, to be honest, I don't even like being surprised that much. I need to know everything. Yes, if you hide things from me just to surprise me, I might not appreciate it. Or maybe I would, who knows...

But small surprises... Is "surprise" the right word? Well, let’s go with it anyway! So, I was saying that I like small, sudden things. Like when some good food suddenly arrives from someone’s house... that’s the kind of surprise I would love. I would definitely want it to be covered with a cloth. The joy of lifting the veil and finding something you love underneath—aha, that’s a moment!

Like when I come across mushrooms during a walk… After googling, I found out that they are 99% poisonous, but somehow, we Pakistani kids from the '90s weirdly fascinated by them. Why? I have no idea. It’s still a mystery...

Oh, and there’s another surprise I absolutely love: getting eidi, especially from my father. Well, it’s not exactly a surprise since you kind of know it’s coming. By the way, do you know what eidi is? It’s money that we, as kids, used to get from elders and parents on the festive occasion of Eid. And it was always those crisp 10 and 50 rupee notes. Though the era of 10 and 50 rupees is long gone, the excitement of receiving eidi still feels the same.

Let's go into past for a minute: When, on the way to school in the morning, your favorite song plays on the radio or cassette player... and your dad doesn’t even try to change the station or the song... You are spared of that forward, rewind saga, now that’s a top-tier surprise, isn’t it? And then, by the time you reach school, you get to listen to the whole song! Is there anything more surprising than that? Nah, I don't think so!

By the way, why is it that dads always seem to have the opposite taste in music from their kids?

Hmm, what else could be surprising...

Oh yes, nothing beats the surprise of finding forgotten money in one of your purses, even if it's just a small amount. Once, something like that happened on a much larger scale. My husband had left 15k somewhere in his drawer and completely forgot about it. This was quite some time ago. His drawer eventually got infested with termites, and I, along with a helper, was trying to remove it from its frame. That’s when I found the money. And you know what? It took everything in me not to look surprised. I pretended as if I knew it was there all along. Otherwise, what would she think? Like, are they so rich they can just forget about that kind of money?

That was the only time something like this happened to us. It was actually money someone had borrowed and returned, and we had completely forgotten about it.

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So, you might be wondering what kind of surprises these are... But honestly, mine are just like that!

If something big is happening in my life, I’d definitely want to know about it ahead of time. Whether it’s possible or not is a different story, and that’s out of my hands! Life already has enough unexpected twists, so yeah, surprises don’t really surprise me anymore! Unless, of course, it involves cake—cake is always a good surprise! @event-horizon ;)))

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