For a Gift I Gave a Memory...and a MacBook

Valentine's Day is coming up. A coworker sent a tweet regarding, from what I can infer, Apple having an ad for iPads as Valentine's gifts. I replied to her with a link to a story about a guy that bought an iPad and carefully wrapped it, dipped it in chocolate, and re-boxed it so it appeared to be an iPad shaped chocolate, only, SURPRISE! It's an actual iPad.

It reminded me of surprising my wife with a new MacBook several years ago, although it wasn't chocolate dipped. For the money spent on these, I wouldn't have had the cojones to try covering something like a laptop with chocolate. I replied to my coworker telling her she should ask me about it sometime, this surprise to my wife, and much to my surprise, she actually did ask a few nights later; usually it seems my coworkers take little interest or followup in my activities so I figured online social graces would be soon forgotten. I guess it's safe to say my coworkers still surprise me once in awhile.

My recollection was...not the best in storytelling. It was jumbled a bit as my memory is much more affiliated with a sieve than an elephant. Afterwards I contacted my wife and asked her recollection of the story. She didn't really tell me much of the actual escapade, but said, "I still have the box and the notes. And the clues."

I didn't know she had kept all of that. I felt another twang in the miss-you center of my brain, followed by a surge in the sadness center of my chest. But it warmed me to know she still had these things.

Soon my email notified me of incoming messages. Scans of the notes I took.

See, when I planned all of this initially, I actually took the time to write an outline of what to do. When I was a kid, on a couple of occasions my Mom bought a toy or...I don't remember what, exactly...and hid it. She would then leave notes in certain spots and give me the initial clue.

It probably says something that I don't remember what she gave me as a reward but I do remember searching around the yard and house trying to solve the clues on these pieces of paper.

What I ended up doing was hiding clues around the high school where my wife worked, and sending her on a scavenger hunt of sorts. Waiting at the end was a shiny new Macbook Pro. She still uses it today.

For reference, here are the notes I had written for outlining the adventure.

My hope is that when the laptop finally reaches the point where it must be replaced, she'll still remember this story, and will remember it fondly.

Love you Norma!