Remember last year's New Year's Eve? When Jason surprised me by awarding me the Spouse of the Year trophy that he had schemed with our friends to make and engrave for me? Well, he's outdone himself. Because apparently, pretty much since the bestowing of the Spouse of the Year award -- i.e., for the last year -- he has been planning a birthday surprise for me for my birthday next month involving the rental of a massive beach house and the visit of our closest friends. The planning has involved hoarding money so I wouldn't know about it and hiding it in socks and ski parkas and attics, faking bike rides and surf outings to meeting with realtors, and having everyone in on it, from my parents to my friends, for six freaking months, without me finding out.* He seriously showed up to pay the realtor with a sock full of money, because it was impossible to open a secret bank account without having statements sent to the house, such that I'd find out about it. Anyway, circumstances have prevented everyone from being able to make it, but Mindy and Chris and their brood are coming, which is so awesome. My mom might come out for a bit as well. And we've got a beach house on the North Shore for a week, and we might take a trip to another island (I'd love to see the sunrise on Haleakala Crater on Maui), and and and... I'm so touched and surprised and blessed with the sweetest husband on earth. Seriously. I have no idea how I worked it, since I'm kind of grumpy and depressive and demanding, but I guess, to quote that song from The Sound of Music, somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good.
*As I have pointed out to a couple of people (including Jason), the big reveal cleared up a few mysteries, including a period of a couple of months last year when Jason was constantly taking cash out of the ATM but never seemed to have any cash on him. We'd be out and we'd stop and get a soda or something and I'd ask him for money and would berate him for not having any cash when he had just taken $150 out of the account 3 days before. He'd claim he had to buy tools, or lunch, or whatever, but I suspected either a gambling problem or a plot by him to hoard money so he could leave me if he felt like it.