Every five years at Automattic we get to take a three-month sabbatical. I think it’s one of the greatest perks of working here.

Unfortunately, my first sabbatical happened during the pandemic, so I didn’t get to travel. My second sabbatical, however, was a different story. My wife and I used all our frequent flier miles to take several trips.

Our first trip was going to be to Spain, but my wife said she’d like to see England, and my mum would be there visiting relatives so we could surprise her. I thought that was a great idea.

And surprise her we definitely did.

I need to backtrack for a minute here. Growing up my English father would greet people with “What ho!” instead of “Hello!” – and that became the way we all greeted each other.

So back to the surprise.

I reached out to my cousin and told her we’d like to surprise my mum while she was staying with her. We booked a wonderful hotel near my cousin, and plotted to show up when my mum was doing her morning walk in the British countryside.

My cousin texted me when the walk was underway, and my wife and I showed up at the end of the walk.

My mum saw us from a distance and thought we looked familiar, but never considered that it was actually us until she got close enough to recognize us.

She couldn’t believe her eyes – she stopped dead in her tracks with her mouth hanging open. And just to make sure she knew it was us, I said a very loud “What ho!”

She turned to my cousin and said a stunned, “It’s Nick and Melissa!” To which my cousin replied, “Yes, we know, everyone knows but you.”

My mum then looked at us and said, “You toads!”

After the shock wore off (which I’m not sure it ever did), we spent the rest of the day with them and had great food and conversation.