Birthday Surprises
It was a Saturday in April, 2015, less than a week before my 40th birthday. I didn’t realize it at the time, but my girlfriend had already planned a surprise birthday party for me. Friends and family were planning to come the next weekend from hundreds of miles away. All the details were being finalized and I was oblivious. That afternoon my renewed passport unexpectedly arrived in the mail. Suddenly everything changed. She quickly and quietly undid all her careful plans and replaced them with something extravagant.
My girlfriend’s original goal was for us to be out of the country for my birthday. We had discussed it months earlier. That’s when I discovered my passport had expired. Thinking there wouldn’t be enough time to plan and get flights arranged, the idea of an international trip for my birthday ended. That’s a mistake I hope to never make again.
The Reveal
Within hours of my new passport arriving, she had replaced her original surprise with another. That’s when she told me. We were flying to London for an extended weekend! Last minute trips aren’t usually cheap, and this was no exception. By the end of the day we had our flights arranged, hotel booked, and dinner reservations for the big day. She even cleared our vacation days with our bosses. Three days later we left San Francisco to spend 100 hours in England.
