These last few weeks have been a special kind of stressful for me. Not like a bad stress, but more like how you feel when you're holding onto a secret that you desperately want to tell someone but can't. Well, that's exactly what happened to me but multiply it by 3. I had 3 BIG secrets that I needed to keep in order to surprise 2 very special people in my life.
2 of the 3 secrets involved my Dad and his birthday. We flew my brother in from across the country to surprise my Dad the day before his birthday party. They haven't seen each other in almost 2 years, so the reunion was beautiful. The other secret was his gift. My brother, my sister, my Mom and I all chipped in for a portrait of my Dad's favorite things. His dogs. We commissioned the portrait from a very talented local artist, and also my uncle, Tom Hedderich (check out his work by clicking here!). My Dad was very happy and we all had a tremendously enjoyable weekend.
My 3rd secret involved my wife. Not to give up many details of our relationship, but we tell each other everything. So hiding something from her was extraordinarily difficult. Well, for her birthday, her best friend and I secretly planned a surprise visit. The surprise plans for my Dad were made almost a year ago, but the plans to surprise my wife started at the beginning of September. So I've had a few weeks of trying as hard as I can to keep from spoiling 3 big surprises! It was much more difficult than I thought.
That's the back story. Now, after all of the surprises have successfully concluded, let's take a look at how Batman might have handled this.
So plans began almost a year ago. That is plenty of time for Batman to plan. For my Dad's surprises, this is easy. Batman would use Bruce Wayne's billions to fly my brother in on a private jet, where there would be a car waiting for him at the airport. The car would take him to my parent's house, arriving at the perfect moment to surprise my Dad. Since I picked my brother up from the airport, I would also be in the car. To add some flair. Batman would wait until my Dad was sitting on the couch in his living room when suddenly the lights would go out, before Dad got to his feet to check the fuses, the lights would return and my brother would be standing there. BOOM. One surprise handled. Next up is the painting.
We revealed the painting just before dessert was served. Batman would have been more secretive, subtle, and yet much more dramatic at the same time. The party would have kept guests' attention on mingling outside the house, since the weather was perfect this was easy enough. At just the right moment, all the guests including my Dad would have found themselves inside. Somehow the painting would already be mounted on the wall in the exact spot my Dad would have wanted, only with a cloth covering it. When everyone was settled, the cloth would dramatically sweep off to reveal the painting beneath. This simple flair of drama would only increase the impact of the surprise. BOOM. 2 surprises down, no casualties.
Last surprise actually worked out really well for me. Our friend, Amy, who flew in called me with the idea of coming to visit and we planned accordingly. Details you don't know: my wife (Bridget) and I have 1 car, and so we share it. I drive her to work some days, so me using the car for the day isn't unusual. This time it didn't matter, just last week Bridget found out that she had to go out of state for a business trip and would be gone for 2 days. The 2nd day happened to be the day Amy flew in AND she would arrive in the morning! This was perfect to keep the surprise! Bridget didn't make it home until 7pm last night, so Amy and I had multiple hours to organize a great surprise. We set up decorations on the kitchen table, that doubled with a new microwave I had bought earlier. This was used to get Bridget's attention and tell her that something special was happening. Sure enough, as soon as she walked in the door, she noticed the decorations and microwave. I then casually mentioned how I also decorated the living room so she would turn to look in that direction. She noticed and started to comment when her eyes fell on her best friend Amy. Screaming ensued and then we went out for sushi.
Honestly, I don't know if Batman could have handled that situation any better than that. Hahaha. Simply because only a husband knows his wife well enough to be able to surprise her properly. Even with nearly a month to plan, there is no way that Batman would be able to know my wife better than I do. So for the first time, and probably only time, I get to say that I am better than Batman!
Key moments of the surprise that I feel were Batman-like techniques:
- Using misdirection to keep my wife's focus on certain things before the final reveal. I used the same technique when I proposed to her.
- Planting thought seeds that led up to the surprise. Like telling her before she left for her business trip that, "when you get back, you're going to be SO happy" or small points about how excited I am to celebrate her birthday.
- How quiet Amy and I were about the surprise.
These 3 things, I believe, helped lead to a very successful birthday surprise. Batman would have handled things much differently, but it would not have been as personal. For Bridget's surprise, we were keeping things very low key and so Batman's methods might have been too much. Then again, Batman would know that. He's also not an event coordinator and so wouldn't be bothered with something like this. HA!
Thanks for reading! Do you have any suggestions for WHAT WOULD BATMAN DO? Next week I'll take a case with a little more action involved. Happy Autumn to anyone into that sort of thing.
For tomorrow: THE RETURN OF FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!!!!! Next week: the COUNTDOWN TO NY COMIC CON!!!
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