A Tale of Two Phones

To all those sweet commercials where the husband/wife cleverly surprises their spouse with jewelry, or car keys, or some other big surprise....I say BAH HUMBUG!

Last year David got me a new cell phone for Christmas. A really cool razor flip phone...and it was going to be a TOTAL surprise. When I got home from work one day he cleverly swiped my old cell phone and snuck out my sim card. His plan was to put the sim card in my new phone, place it in my stocking, then call it. How sweet is that?

Well it would have been VERY sweet had I not decided that I needed to text someone at that precise moment. I grabbed my old phone off the dining room table and the screen was blank. I tried to turn it off and on and nothing happened. Thinking the sim card had just been shaken loose I took the back off to discover....NO sim card whatsoever. Of course, I started screeching that someone had taken my sim card, etc when David walked up behind me and said with a sigh, "Surprise...Merry Christmas."

Of course I was ecstatic anyway but we both laughed about the sweet surprise being ruined.

Fast forward a year...to today. David has been hinting since his last business trip that he wanted a touch screen internet phone. He went on and on about how cool they were. And he kept hinting that his phone was up for an upgrade anyway.

I have never handled our phone plan or services, or anything like that but giddily bopped into the T Mobile store this morning and announced that I wanted to surprise my husband with a new phone for Christmas. After we settled on the right plan and price for the new phone, the salesman looked at the computer and said, "Oh. David is the only one listed on here who can make changes to his plan."

My heart sank a little because it wasn't going to be a fun surprise after all again. I would have to go get him and drag him up to the store to get his own phone. The salesman went to talk to his manager who came back and said, "We're not going to get in trouble for this are we?". I laughed and said, "No, but if he needs to come back up here with me it's no big deal."

They really liked the idea of me wanting to surprise him so after I gave them David's last 4 social security numbers, which proved to them, that I was indeed, in a close relationship with him, they let me get it.

I dashed home knowing full well I wasn't going to be able to wait til Christmas to give it to him. (We have never been able to wait to give each other our presents). I was planning on stealing his idea from last year and slip his sim card into this new phone then hide it somewhere so he would have to call his phone when he needed it.

We were meeting up with friends at the mall, so my plan would have to wait until aftwrwards. But I slipped the new phone into my coat pocket anyway. We were going to the same mall where I just bought the phone, so if he did drag me into the store to look at it again, I would be ready and say, "Why don't you just use the one I have in my pocket?".

Sure enough, on our way out of the mall we passed the T Mobile store. I have zero capability to put on a poker face or act natural when I have a big secret. So I was a bit nervous.

"They're pretty busy today," David commented.

"Yep", I replied nonchalantly, scared he could hear my heart pounding.

He stopped under the big poster advertisement for his phone and remarked, "I don't think I want that phone anymore."

I looked at him strangely and managed to squeak out a casual, "Oh?".

Part of me thought he must somehow know I got the phone was toying with me. Because that is David to a T.

But he went on to say, "Yeah, I think I want the one that has a stylus and you can actually write on the phone screen itself instead of having to use the keyboard."

I guess I was still looking strange because he jokingly said, "You didn't get it for me did you?".

My eyes welled up with tears as I slipped the phone out of my pocket and held it out for him to see.

He thought I was showing him my phone, because they are both black so he laughed and said in a teasing tone, "Oh is that it?".

When he looked closer and saw it was the new phone, he stopped in his tracks and took a double take.

There we stood in the middle of the mall...another ruined surprise...a phone he wasn't even sure he wanted now...and tears falling down my cheek...oh, and a 2 year old that was so far ahead of us, he was almost out the door to the parking lot. Sentimental Christmas memories...

Of course, we are already laughing about it now. David looks like a little boy excited about his new toy. He is waiting for his internet service to be activated on it, and picks it up every 30 seconds to check it.

I guess I will start working on what I can try and surprise him with for his birthday...in February.