He had a T-shirt and I had a hunch.
As Nick’s 30th birthday approached, I was racking my brain for ideas on what to give the man. I mean, hellooo, the BIG 3-0! It doesn’t seem possible that one of us has reached that milestone in our lives (and the other, well…not too far behind herself).
Because of this, I wanted to celebrate in a big way. With a grand gesture. As luck would have it, I discovered Florence and The Machine was touring with U2 this summer as part of U2’s 360 tour. U2 hadn’t even been on my radar screen at this point, but suddenly, here was this glorious opportunity to see Florence AND a legend, together! Even better? Discovering the concert was taking place in June at Michigan State University’s Spartan Arena. Since we have friends who now work at Michigan State, all it took was a few Facebook messages to lock in a visit with them as part of the deal—did I mention they own a boat? And that Nick LOVES boating? It was shaping up to be a gift of ultimate awesomeness. And yet, I still felt like I was taking a big risk getting tickets to a concert for Nick for his birthday. After all, this is a man who goes to live shows about as often as I go to professional sporting events (ahem…never).
But then I remembered this old U2 T-shirt of his from college, and how much he’d always loved the band. So I had a hunch he’d love it. Decided to take the plunge and order the tickets. Since I am horrible at keeping secrets, it was incredibly difficult for me not to cave and tell him what was in store. I’d wrapped the tickets up in that old U2 concert tee in a leftover Christmas box to throw him off.
“What’s this?” he asked me, shaking the box after he saw it wrapped. “I thought you were taking me some place for my birthday.” I decided to lie to make the surprise that much better. “Yeah, I’m sorry babe…those plans fell through.” I could tell he was crestfallen by the news. “Oh…okay,” he said. “I mean, I understand. ”
I had to wait until Tuesday night—his birthday—rolled around before he could open his presents. And the deception was worth it to see his reaction when he opened up his gift.
Taped to the front of the box:
When he gave me a bear hug and told me it was the best birthday gift anyone had ever gotten him, my heart swelled with joy (and relief). Because when you’re an adult, it’s an awesome thing to truly surprise someone with a token of gratitude and love like this. Now, maybe we can buy him a new T-shirt when we see their act in June. ‘Cause that hunch of mine? It was dead on.
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by Gail Werner
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