Emily's Big Surprise

My heart was racing as I drove down some undisclosed road somewhere on Cape Cod. Would she figure it out? Would we really pull this off? My blindfolded wife sat next to me, somehow content to cooperate in this charade I was exercising.

Two and a half hours earlier, we were saying goodbye to our little girl and our neighbor Lee. It was date night. Emily knew it was a surprise, and was willing to even be blindfolded on the way. A few rounds through the airport rotary later, and we were arriving at what she thought was our only destination. I then explained to her that we were not having dinner at one restaurant, but several. The first course was an appetizer course at the one place that truly demonstrates my sacrificial love for her: Taco Bell.

One Nachos Bel Grande later, and we were making more loops around the airport rotary. It's easy to get a blindfolded person lost in a rotary, I found. But our second stop was 50 feet outside of it, so all the riding around was really more of a show. We pulled into Wendy's. Once she took the blindfold off, the pattern became a little more clear. We were going to have a majority of the things she had been craving during her pregnancy (except for fried shrimp and tartar sauce, which she'd satisfied a week or two ago.)

The first two courses were things Emily missed from the days when we lived in Fast Food Nation (or, the rest of America,) but the dessert course was something she was introduced to here on the Cape. The blindfold went back on, and the Volvo went back in the rotary. When it came out, it headed for Sam Diego's, a Tex-Mex restaurant where we ordered a delicious fried ice cream to-go. We didn't bother with the blindfold as we drove across the street to the Starbucks in the Barnes & Noble to eat it.

As the evening wound down, I let her know there was one last stop. One last trip around the rotary, and the longer drove began.

I don't remember Emily ever being so relaxed when I was behind the wheel. She tilted her seat back and talked away about everything. Everything except the crazy drivers and perilous intersections. I, on the other hand, had a heart-rate high enough for the both of us. It reminded me of the moments before we got engaged, when I thought, "I just might be able to pull this off." I had a shot- it really looked possible.

We pulled into the Lakefield Farms Clubhouse and I parked right in the entryway. But this time she had to keep the blindfold on. The whole purpose of the blindfold, you see, was that she wouldn't see all the cars in the parking lot. And it would feel weird if I'd just asked her to put a blindfold on for this one thing, so I had to make her do it all throughout the night. It had to feel like just another weird, quirky thing I was doing.

I helped her out of the car and up the entrance steps, while everyone inside tried to keep quiet. (You can't just keep 60 gathered ladies quiet.) We walked through the door and I asked if she was ready. She was, so we pulled the blindfold off to the sight of a room full of her friends and the sound of "Surprise!" The pile of gifts was sky-high, and Emily finally realized that the whole plan revolved around this surprise baby shower. Just in time for Sarah, who Lee had taken there, to walk up to greet us. Surprise!

We had done it- she really had no idea. She cried, gave me a hug, and tried her best to take it all in. She confessed to me later that the only thing she could think of that we could possibly be doing was going to see "The Hunger Games" in a theater the opposite direction. A baby shower wasn't even on her radar. 

After a little greeting time, I promptly left for a BBQ at Nick's house. We grilled meat until we dropped, and I eventually went back to pick up Emily and the mass of gifts. It really was a shower, one we could have swam in if we'd wanted to.

She'll tell the rest of the story soon enough, but that's the lead-up. It was a great night, and I still can't believe we pulled it off.