Who is lucky enough to be married to this guy? Me!
Recently he did something so amazing that it really sealed the deal. (OK, it's not so recent anymore, but I half wrote the post months ago so I thought I should finish it.)
It is a really complicated story, but I've edited it slightly to make it shorter. If you don't want to read all of it, just scroll down for the pictures - you'll probably still figure out what happened.
A while ago Scooter's younger brother Skipper was coming into town for a medical school interview. We had been doing the regular pre-houseguest things that week: cleaning, grocery shopping, menu planning, making up the guest bed, and planning a full schedule of activities. On Friday Scooter picked me up from work and we headed to the airport to pick up Skipper.
As we were turning into the terminal Scooter asked me get a paper from the glove box which was a list that was headed "People Who Know." I was not only confused by the heading, but also by the people on the list. They seemed to be completely and utterly random with no connections. They included people from both of my jobs, some people from church, students and professors from the medical school, friends from other states and countries, and some people I didn't know. I was obviously puzzled, but I didn't have a chance to ask for an explanation because by the time I had finished reading it we had stopped at the curb and Skipper was waiting for us.
I hugged Skipper and as I did so it occurred to me that it was odd that he was wearing a hat because he was also wearing a suit, but stranger things have happened and I was given little time to dwell on it because I was trying to help get his bags into our car. The trunk was opened and I was confused to find suitcases already in there. Scooter also acted surprised and confused and then said "well, we better move these." He proceeded to remove them from the trunk and give them to a waiting skycap. When I started to protest he insisted that I better check the glove box again.
There was an envelope labeled "Top Secret." When I was told to open it I found a sheaf of papers. The top sheet was a flight itinerary. As I scanned it I did a double take on the dates. They were for that day. That's when I started shaking. He told me to check the next page. It was a cruise itinerary. We were going on a cruise to Jamaica and Grand Cayman. I was utterly befuddled and incredulous. As realization hit me in waves I started feeling overwhelmed. So many little seemingly inconsequential things from the previous months started making sense. The "People Who Know List" started making sense. I started feeling kinda faint and since I don't have the best track record for fainting in the last few years (stories for another time) I decided I better sit down. By the time I sat on the bumper of the car the bags that Scooter had taken out of the car were checked and gone. I looked up at Skipper and realized that his hat said "Jamaica." Scooter had sent it to him and told him to wear it. So much planning had gone into this incredible surprise!
Even after the boys had tried to clarify what was happening I was still struggling to wrap my mind around it. We couldn't be leaving, I told myself. Skipper was staying with us that weekend. I had already worked out what we were going to do, where we were going to eat, etc. But even as my mind reeled, Scooter explained that we needed to hurry to security because our flight was starting to board really soon. Then my amazing husband whipped my purse that I travel with out, gave me my camera, a copy of "The Caribbean" by my favorite travel guide book brand, transferred me to a bench and told me to call my mom. He turned our car keys over to Skipper and showed him how to use the GPS (that we had conveniently and un-coincidentally recently purchased) to get to our house.
I called my mom and my sister Andrea answered her phone. As soon as I heard her voice I burst into tears, yelled "I'm going on a cruise!" and then confused her with the most garbled phone call in the history of our relationship. Poor Andrea had not been told about this in advance and was just as confused as I felt. I kept sobbing incoherent run-on sentences like "I read the list and was confused... (sob-sob)...and then Skipper was there...(sob)... and Scooter sent him his hat...(sob)... and then the bags were there...(sob-sob-sob)... and then they were gone...(laughing and sobbing)... and I opened the envelope...(more sobbing)... and we are leaving right now!...(really hard sobbing)..." While she tried to extract some sensible information out of me Scooter waved goodbye to Skipper and then we went inside.
Scooter had arranged the whole thing months ago. He had secretly requested work off at both of my jobs, found me a substitute for my Sunday School class, and arranged countless other things. He had completely packed for me. He had not forgotten a single thing - makeup, contacts and solution, sunglasses, a beach bag, nice dress and shoes, beach cover-ups, sports bra for working out, etc. I daresay that most men could not do this for their wives. I was honestly a little worried during the flight and until I had a chance to check what was in my bag.
In his excitement Scooter had checked the bags without giving me the outfit he had picked out for the flight, so I flew to Florida in my scrubs that I was still wearing from work.
He had arranged to stay the night with our friends Christopher and Kimberly who live near Miami. We hung out with them that night and the next day they drove us to the port. We boarded the cruise ship and we were off! During the next five days I kept looking at Scooter in amazement and saying, "I can't believe we are here! I can't believe you did this!" For the entire cruise Scooter kept thinking of details of the intricate planning process to tell me. I could have suspected so many times, but I never did. I think the secret to his success was to tell almost no one that we were actually doing it. He told my mom, but she didn't tell any of my sisters or even my dad. When we got back I had numerous voicemails from my poor sister, Rachelle, who was never told at all and was confused about why I wasn't calling her back.
