I Think That's A Gotcha

Approximately 2 weeks ago Sandra and I were discussing what we were going to do for Sheila and Wendell's anniversary that was coming up on May 30th. As it was their 10th anniversary, we felt we should do something special for them.

After talking about it and doing a little investigation, we decided we'd get them a gift for their anniversary. Now a gift is nothing too special in the normal state of affairs. So we decided we'd try a make it a bit more interesting for them. I ordered the gift through Sears and made arrangements to have it delivered directly to Sheila and Wendell's house as a 'gift delivery'.

Still nothing too special here. . .

I got to thinking that if I was going to get it delivered to their house, I'd darn well better make sure that someone was going to be home on the delivery date. Makes sense? As stated their anniversary was on May 30th, but on May 31st it was also my birthday so my plan started to hatch. May 31st was a Thursday and Wendell gets Thursday and Friday as his days off, so I knew it was possible he could be home for the delivery. Of course I had to make sure.

On setting up the delivery I had my choice of what day and what time frame to have the delivery done. I chose May 31st and for a time frame I chose 9 am to 1 pm. So now I had to ensure that Wendell would be home in that time frame. While I was speaking to Sheila that evening or the next day at any rate, I mentioned that I would like Wendell to be at home on my birthday (May 31st) so that if I wanted to talk to someone, I knew there would be someone at home. I had made the arrangements with Wendell for the 9 to 1 slot and mentioned that I had other people lined up for other times throughout the day. I think Sheila first thought that I may have lost a few marbles in the last little while, however, she and Wendell did agree to have him at home at the allotted time.

Wendell was just about bursting with curiosity about this 'stay at home' thing so kept asking for more reasons why. I stuck to my guns and just told them as I was getting older, I may want to talk to someone on short notice, so I wanted someone to be at their phone when I needed to call. I think they first thought that this request had something to do with their anniversary, but of course they couldn't be certain.

After a week or so of reminding them of the appointed time I figured I'd better add some confusion to the pot. I got a hold of Craig and brought him into my confidence. I had him ask Sheila on their next conversation why dad wanted him to be sitting at home from 1 pm to 5 pm waiting for a phone call. Sheila mentioned that Wendell was supposed to be home from 9 am to 1 pm. Craig then mentioned that maybe I was going senile or some other such malady and played the game to the hilt. Now of course Sheila was totally confused. Good!

Throughout the remainder of the week leading up to the 31st, Sheila and Wendell both probed for more information, but neither Sandra nor I budged and stuck to my original request to only have someone available to talk to on my birthday.

On May 31st, as luck would have it, the Sears delivery guys finally made it to The Stone residence at about 11:45 a.m. and delivered a brand new deep freeze that we had ordered for them as a gift. Sheila and Wendell's old deep freeze had bought the farm and they were finding it difficult to try and store all one's frozen items in the freezer compartment of a normal fridge.

Both Sandra and I just knew that the new deep freeze would be put to very good use and was not just a trivial type of a gift. It would be enjoyed at the time and hopefully for many years to come.

I do believe our plans were carried out with precision and the gift was a total surprise for the kids and I can say it was 'a gotcha'.

Happy anniversary to Sheila and Wendell and many more to come. OH and by the way, all my marbles are still in place rolling around in the noggin as they should :)