Life would be lonely without a best friend.
So when 32-year-old Shelby Hoefling had a secret, she knew how lucky she was to have a bestie in her life to share her news with.
But that announcement had to be as special as the friend was – because her bestie is her 98-year-old grandmother, Patricia Hoefling.
In her now-viral TikTok video, Hoefling prepared her surprise for her ‘Nanny’. Everything had to be perfect, she said – after all, this was her first pregnancy.
“Telling Nanny that I’m pregnant (very cryptically hehe oops) was yet another moment that I wished for, hoped for and prayed for,” she wrote on the video.
Everything needed to be ready for the road trip to see Patricia.
“She lives two hours away from me so I went and visited her the next day,” the Baltimore resident told Good Morning America.”
I knew that I wanted to do something.”
Shelby said she and her grandma have always been close. When she was younger, she would spend time with her, singing songs during car rides, cooking and baking in the kitchen together. The two would always talk about everything, just like best friends do.
So Shelby put a box together, filling it with Nanny’s favorite food – butter. Perfect, she said, for the “bun in (her)oven”, which Shelby wrote on a card inside the gift.
In addition to the butter, she included a ‘limited edition Bumpalicious Butter Pecan’ ice cream – “available only for 9 months!”
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Shelby and her husband, Andy Raynor, packed the box in their car and made the drive to her grandmother’s house in Pennsylvania.
“To actually have her there to experience this exciting milestone that she and I had been talking about for practically my whole life … it was so special,” Shelby said.
All the major milestones, she said, have always been shared with her grandmother. Now that she’s an adult and her grandmother is older, the moments like her engagement, her wedding and now a pregnancy, everything is all the more special.
“All these things are happening very fast but I’m absolutely OK with it because it means that nanny gets to be a part of it. So it’s been a dream come true,” she said.
After the couple arrived, they handed Patricia the box. Slightly bemused, she pulled out the items, then read the note.
“I got you some butter for the bun in my oven,” Shelby joked. Her grandma took a bit to try and figure out what exactly was baking in the oven, and why the ice cream only had 9 months.
After a few tries, Shelby finally caved and told her grandmother that she and her husband were expecting a baby.
Patricia just smiled and said “I think it was marvelous. I am so excited!”
They both know just how precious their time together is.
“She’s like, ‘Well, when’s the baby due?’ And I said ‘February,’ and she’s like, ‘Ah! I’ll stay for that. I’ll stay,'” Shelby said.
Patricia Hoefling can’t contain her excitement after learning her granddaughter, Shelby, is having a baby. Photo from TikTok
“I think we’ve been very blessed to do those things together. They’re very important things,” Patricia said.
This isn’t the first time that the closeness and love between the two has gone viral. Two years ago, Shelby surprised her grandmother by being a waitress where Patricia was having lunch. They had been separated for six months because of the covid pandemic.
“I almost gave her a heart attack,” Shelby said about her grandmother’s reaction to seeing her.
Patricia’s initial shock quickly wore off, and could barely contain her joy. Tiktok commenters were brought to tears.
“This made me cry! I miss my grandma so much! Love her and spend as much time with her as you can,” one person wrote.
The videos are just another way for the two to bond and have fun together, Shelby said.
“We’ve had so many memories together and so many milestones and experiences, so if we can get more, that’d be great, but we’re just grateful for what we get.”
Watch below for a look at this amazing surprise!
Sources: Good Morning America | Upworthy
