The Eye Ball

Ok, so I wanted to write this entry, just because I felt the need to brag just a little in here. Kristin will also insert her own comments wherever she deems appropriate, in a different color so as not to confuse everyone. This is regarding last Saturday’s date. And it’s going to be a little long – because it was a good date. :-)

                  Anyway, so Kristin and I are approaching our 3 year anniversary in May. Yeah, I know, it seems like just yesterday.  I really felt bad last year because our anniversary fell right in finals week and a new baby and we really didn’t get to do anything, and it looked like exactly the same thing would happen this year.  So I was really excited when I discovered that my school was putting on their only yearly formal dance – called, of course, of all things, the Eye Ball. Yeah, I know, Optometry. . .  So I naturally wanted to get tickets and surprise Kristin, because we really have never been to a formal dance. Of course, it could never be enough for me to just “surprise” Kristin by bringing home tickets and whipping them out. Oh no, that just wouldn’t suffice.

                  Phase 1: So I managed to be lucky enough to get tickets (they were actually the LAST TWO tickets). I got them right at the end of March. That was when the fun began. Sometime later that week, after a long and tiring day, I decided to be a considerate, thoughtful, fun husband (I don’t know why she didn’t start getting suspicious right there, go figure), and I pulled out some dance DVDs that I’d gotten for Kristin for Christmas a year ago and said we should have some fun and practice dancing. She bought it, and didn’t suspect anything, even when I pulled them back out the next night saying that we’d had so much fun, and I wanted to keep working on them. Oh, but it doesn’t stop there.

                  Phase 2: Kristin has recently been having fun working on various sewing projects. She’d talked about sewing a vest for one of her formal gowns that she loves, in order to make it more modest. Well, so as she finished up one project (Kaela’s Easter dress), I nonchalantly suggested that she could try sewing that project. I must have done a good enough job, because she actually did get a pattern, and fabric, and spent like two weeks working on it.

                  I think this was the most dangerous part of the whole venture, though. She spent way too long looking at the beautiful dress, and thinking about what she was doing. One night, as we were getting ready to go to bed, she said to me, “Lee, I wish we could go out to a fancy dance, and dress up, and I could pin a boutonniere on you. . .” Of course, red flags started flashing in my mind, but I think I successfully steered her away with a few noncommittal male grunts.  Imagine my let-down when he did that.  I can’t remember what else I said, but I’m sure it seemed clueless and dense, because it worked – she dropped it, and more importantly, in thinking me imperceptive and obtuse, she had put herself even farther from uncovering the rouse.

                  Oh, but the trail of deception does not stop there, my friends. Oh no, the roots go much deeper. The best is yet to come. I did indeed get Kristin to practice dancing West Coast Swing with me for a whole month, as well as spend two weeks working on her own dress, without suspecting anything. About two weeks before the dance we had discreetly asked some good friends of ours if they would be available to babysit while I kidnapped my wife. They agreed, and became co-conspirators. From then, pretty much everything was set up for the grand finale.

                  Phase 3: Kristin finished her dress a few days before the dance. I naturally waited until the day before the dance before taking any action. Oh, I was good enough to make sure that she hadn’t made any commitments that night, and to steer her away from the thought, any time she suggested any actions for that particular night.  Lee had me way stressed out about his upcoming final and said we were staying home for him to study. Anyway, Friday afternoon I started talking to her about how long of a week it had been, and how little time I got to be with her at home (which is totally true – some days I’m lucky if I get two hours at home before we go to bed). I asked her if it was ok if I took her out tomorrow (Saturday), even though we’re trying to save money and all. She totally bought it. She put up a little resistance, but in the end she gave me permission to take her out on a date.  He asked, “Would it be ok if I took you out to dinner tomorrow?”  We’ve tried to give that up except for special occasions, but we really hadn’t seen each other much this week – I bought it.

Then, in my most innocent, excited and fun manner, I suggested that we could dress up, and she could wear the beautiful dress that she’d worked on, so that I could see it, and she could fix her hair and make herself look beautiful. I actually wasn’t that worried about her catching on here, because I know Kristin – she’s fun. And I knew she’d probably think it would be fun to go out in a formal dress and a tux to Subway and tip the cashier. It worked: she agreed, she did think it was fun, and most importantly, she still suspected nothing. I was thinking I had a creative husband who wanted to make me feel special.  I agreed to be the one to call around and try to find a babysitter.  I also said that I would look around and see if I could find something fun to do.

Saturday, the culmination of my efforts, was extremely fun. In the morning I pretended to call our friends, Rachel and Jeremy Blanchard, to ask if they could babysit (I had to do a fake call, because Kristin could hear me, and would know if I didn’t call them).  That was a fake call!  No way! What luck! They were available to babysit that evening! On such short notice! I went “running” in the morning – meaning that I snuck away in the car and ordered the corsage. Then I spent most of the day pretending to be busy and not have enough time to look up things that we could go do. I would periodically ask Kristin if she had any ideas, and of course she would think of some good suggestions, which I really didn’t listen to at all, because that wasn’t the point of me asking her.   Good ideas too, such as: walking on the beach, a picnic, riding the subway dressed up, finding a dance hall…. I was worried for a bit in the afternoon when Kaela didn’t sleep much and was fussy, but luckily she went down for a nap an hour or two before our scheduled departure, and everything seemed set. About two hours before leaving I told Kristin that I think I’d decided on somewhere to go, and I asked if she wanted me to tell her – she said no, of course, so I agreed that I wanted to surprise her. I got to shine my shoes last minute, and Kristin made herself breathtaking.  My hair was in a French twist with curls on top and twists in front, I really liked it (thanks to Kimberly and Shannon for teaching me!).  I knew, even before we left, that I was taking the prettiest girl to the dance.

When we left, before dropping Kaela off, we stopped at the local grocery store and I ran in to pick up the corsage, which I smuggled out to the car in a paper bag.  I guessed that Lee had gone into the deli and got a picnic dinner, since that would be less expensive than eating out but still require no preparation. I assumed Kristin would suspect I was picking up a picnic dinner or something, and of course, I was right – she still suspected nothing.

I had told Kristin that we’d probably be back before Kaela’s bedtime, but in case she went to sleep early we should tell them how to put her to bed. When we dropped Kaela off, the first thing that Rachel asked her was “how long she’d known that this was going on”. Oh man, I had to think fast. I just said to Rachel, as if it were completely natural, “oh, she still doesn’t know where we’re going, I only just decided this afternoon. . .” I then tried to change the subject by saying that I wasn’t sure if I’d told them exactly where we’d be, when I called them – so I snuck Rachel aside and told her where we were going.

When we left, Kristin, probably still sensing that they knew something she didn’t, asked me if I’d talked to them another time. I explained, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, that I’d called them back that afternoon.  I had been out running with the baby – he had lots of time to call. I then successfully changed the subject, and asked her if she would close her eyes while we drove where we were going. He said it was close and it would only be 5 min; I thought he had gotten lost and stuck in traffic and everything bad to go so long.  She kept her eyes closed for the whole 15-minute drive into downtown Boston, without peeking. And only getting a little carsick.  I finally let her open her eyes as we pulled into the parking garage, and she commented about how uninteresting of a parking garage it was. The look of shock on her face when the elevator doors opened and she realized that we were in the Prudential Center (Downtown Boston’s fanciest, most expensive mall) was my first satisfaction from my efforts.   

I then told her to keep her head down and I would guide her where we were going. We then walked into the Prudential Tower, which is about when any efforts on my part to continue the rouse were pointless, because several people from NECO were entering as well, and they recognized me and greeted me. Anyway, right outside the elevator, I opened the paper bag and pulled out her corsage. She pinned on my boutonniere as we rode the super-fast, rocket elevator up to the 50^th floor to “The Hub” – the restaurant on top of one of Boston’s tallest skyscrapers.  Can you hear the smile plastered across my face?  And we enjoyed the evening dining and dancing with friends. It was wonderful, and worth all the effort. But I’ll let Kristin finish up and tell about the evening, if she wishes. I’ve had plenty of fun telling my part.

We arrived in time for cocktail hour where Lee and I enjoyed Cranberry Gingerales.  The view from The Hub was astounding – everything was there.  We were there just as the sun set over the Charles River and the bridge.  You could see up river all the way to Charlestown and the Bunker Hill monument.  Another view looked right down on Fenway where the Red Sox and Yankees were playing – we could just see the tiny players.  The townhomes of Back Bay, the airport, the ocean – we could see everything for miles and miles.  Our assigned table looked out over the river. 

Skip over the pleasant conversation to dinner.  When we were asked to find our tables, I sat down and the waiter whisked my napkin up and put it into my lap.  It was good to know I knew which forks were to be used when.  Dinner was beautiful; we had salmon and chicken and it was the best salmon ever made. Just one comment here: I deliberately ordered the salmon for Kristin, because I’m trying to get her to like seafood more, and I figured it would force her out of her comfort zone. I was really sad when her meal was SO much better than mine. It was the best Salmon I’ve ever tasted. I wish I’d ordered two, instead of my chicken, which really couldn’t compare, and we both knew it. It was served with a pastry filled with potatoes and asparagus.  Dessert was coffee ice cream, so we skipped out on that.

    

Before dessert, Lee and I meandered over to the dance floor where they were playing quiet music before dinner.  A West Coast song came on and Lee led me to the floor.  Out there by ourselves, we took the floor and enjoyed ourselves to the cheers of Lee’s classmates.   This was by far my favorite part as we got to lead off the dance and show off our month of practicing in a fun swing.

We danced a song and the DJ’s then opened the floor and played some loud, extremely rhythmic stuff.  We got to dance a few more dances, but the music kept getting louder and louder and people were getting a bit more tipsy.  We called it a night and set to return to Kaela about 10:30.  With Kaela home in bed, Lee and I sat together out on the balcony and reflected over a dish of ice cream how much fun the night was and how wonderful the past three years had been.