Husband of the Year 2009

Christmas was three weeks ago. My birthday isn't for five months. So why did last night feel like both combined?

I had a presidency meeting at the church. Bill had told me before I left that he was going to take the kids to get walking shoes. (They hiked up Badger Mountain last Saturday and are now on a hiking kick.) He also told me he was going to "get me a little surprise." This was unexpected, but he does this sometimes when he wants to give me a pick-me-up or he's buttering me up because he secretly bought something (spendy) for himself or plans to do so. I told him I was looking forward to my pack of gum and People magazine. He looked offended and said it would be cooler than that. I was intrigued, but still didn't think much of it.

Fast forward to two hours later. I came home from my meeting and won't deny a little anticipation for my mystery prize. I sat and oohed and ahhed over the kids' shoes and the great deals he got on them (they really were great deals) and sat patiently for the goods. I knew he would be anxious to give it to me, because he's cute like that. As soon as he was done showing me the shoes, he said in a very cryptic tone, "You need to check your email." I thought, "Hmm. Random." I really didn't think it had anything to do with my prize. In fact, the look on his face sort of made me nervous. I thought maybe it was bad. Then, as I logged on, I had a new thought: "What the heck are you doing in my email?" (We have separate accounts and almost NEVER go into each other's emails.) He was getting impatient now, and said, "Just check your email."

So I clicked on my inbox and lo and behold, there was a welcome email from Jessica Sprague herself!!! Okay, not really, but it was the email confirming I was signed up for her first digital scrapbooking class! I was so excited. This was not at all what I was expecting. After gushing over it for the appropriate amount of time, I asked, "Is this what you had in mind the whole time?" He smiled sheepishly and said, "Yeah." I was very impressed and so excited to FINALLY delve into the world of digiscrapping.

So then, with my inbox all open and inviting, I start clicking on some other emails of people that wrote me and comments I got. He walks away, and I figure he's left me to my cyberworld. He left the room for a second, and then from behind me I heard him say, "Hey, if you're gonna..." I thought he was going to say "If you're gonna be on the computer I'm gonna go take a shower" like he usually does, but instead he said, "If you're gonna be taking lots of pictures to digital scrapbook, I figured you could probably use this."

I turned around, half paying attention, half thinking about the comments I wanted to be reading, and this was staring me in the face:



I just stared in shock. I still cannot believe he did it. All on his own, because he wanted me to have one. The whole Jessica Sprague thing was merely a decoy to set the trap for the real thing, although he knew I really did want the class.

Husband of the Year 2009? I think so.