A surprise visit from Aubie is the perfect medicine

What do you do when one of the things you've loved since you were a child shows up at your doorstep with a bouquet of flowers to wish you well as you're recovering from brain surgery? Well if you're me then you turn a bright shade of red and are speechless - which is uncommon for me.

This is what happened on Feb. 17 when my dad opens the door and Auburn's mascot, Aubie, is standing there. I felt like I was about 7 years old.

Part of that was because I was about that age when I met Aubie for the first time.  I come from a big Auburn family - grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, parents - all have ties to the city of Auburn and Auburn University. As a kid, I remember going to A-Day with my dad and brothers, and we also got a chance to meet the team and get their autographs. While my brothers were excited to meet the quarterback or wide receiver, the highlight of my day was getting a photo with Aubie. As I've grown up and attended Auburn for school, I've seen and encountered Aubie several more times. I've even interviewed friends of Aubie while working at the Plainsman, the university's magazine. But all of that didn't make my encounter with Aubie at my house any less exciting or less surprising.

The surprise was set up by my aunt and uncle, Skip and Susan. They had thought about having Aubie visit me while I was in the hospital, but decided against that since you never knew how I would feel each day after the surgery.  So the story my parents used to foul me was that Skip and Susan were coming to spend Friday night with us because they wanted to see how I was doing after the surgery. I was excited to see them as we always have fun when they're in town. The only red flag that should have clued me in that something was up was that my dad suggested I wear an Auburn t-shirt since "Skip and Susan were coming to town." He specifically asked me if my t-shirt with the old Aubie logo was at their house - it wasn't, but he was pleased with my national champions t-shirt. (Dad never provides suggestions as to what I should wear). But wearing Auburn stuff around Skip and Susan makes sense. They're our tailgating buds, and as I said earlier, we're a Auburn family.

Skip and Susan arrived for lunch, and my mom, dad, sister-in-law Jessica and my lil nephew Tripp all had lunch together. Tripp was decked out in Auburn gear too, wearing a hat that Skip and Susan had bought him for Christmas. Shortly after lunch, it seemed that everyone's phone was ringing, but I still had no clue that the entire gang was conspiring behind my back. Then dad said he heard the doorbell ring and asked me to come to the hall and close my eyes. Not being one that is keen on surprises, I covered my eyes.

When I was allowed to open them - there was Aubie standing at my front door. As you can tell from the pictures, I turned bright red with excitement.

But I have to be honest. Not only was I beyond excited to see Aubie pay me a personal visit. I was overcome with love and thanks for my family who had worked to organize this great surprise. These past six-plus months have been filled with a lot of set backs, tears, pain and confusion - but what has been a constant has been the love and support I've received from my family and friends. I can't thank them enough for all that they have done for me - and the visit by Aubie was icing on the cake.

Aubie hung out at with us for about an hour before he had to run back to Auburn. It was so much fun hanging out with him. For a Tiger that doesn't speak a word, he has great gestures and movements that made it easy to carry on a great "conversation" with him.

I think the only one who wasn't excited to see Aubie was my lil puppy, Isabelle. While she is a huge people puppy, I think she was a little frightened by a large tiger in the house. The only pictures we got with her and Aubie, someone is holding her steady while she's trying to run away.

Aubie was very impressed with our "Auburn" room in the basement. He spent time exploring all the Auburn items we had, and even tried to "steal" the glittery Auburn hat my grandmother bought me when I was little. It did look good on him though.

And Aubie was very comfortable taking pictures with Tripp, my 6 month old nephew. Tripp is half Auburn tiger (my brother) and half LSU Tiger (my sister-in-law). Hopefully hanging out with Aubie gave him a head start in leaning more to his War Eagle side.

I can't begin to say thank you enough to Skip and Susan for organizing this. This was a great surprise and the perfect medicine as I'm on my road to recovery. I will always remember this day as a dream come true!

War Eagle,
Ashley