My phone rang the familiar ring of James’s ring tone. I immediately answered – happy to hear his voice for the first time since he dropped me off at work that morning.
“Hi bay!” He said, sounding especially chipper. “How are you?!”
“Goooood… What’s up?” I replied, wondering where the high-pitched excitement in James’s voice was coming from.
“I got you something! But it’s a surprise!”
“You can’t tell me that and then expect me to wait 4 hours to find out what it is James…” I answered, knowing full-well that neither James nor I are good at keeping secrets or surprises from each other – so it’s only a matter of minutes until I find out what he got me. (I mean, come on, we’re the same people who open Christmas presents as soon as we buy them – weeks before Christmas!)
“Nope… I’m not telling! Try and guess…”
“I have NO idea…” I replied – as thoughts of diamond rings, flowers, clothes, dinner, and desserts flashed through my mind. “Come on James… just tell me. You’re really not going to make me wait 4 hours to find out what the surprise is. You know you want to tell me!”
“Okay. Fine.” He said, smiling through the phone. “I bought you a mini-trampoline!”
Silence…. Pause…. More silence… “A… mini-trampoline…???” I answered, completely confused.
“Yeah!! You know… the little ones that you can keep in your house?!”
“Oh.. yeah… Cool. Ummm… Why did you get me a mini-trampoline? Did I say I wanted a mini-trampoline some time?” I asked.
“No, I just figured you’re always running, jumping and dancing around the house, and complaining you don’t get to the gym enough – so I figured this was a good alternative. Something you could do at home to burn off some energy!” he answered happily.
“Oh. Okay…?” I said, with thoughts of flowers still floating through my brain. “Where are we going to put this thing? I mean, when we’re not using it? We have no storage left in our apartment…”
“We can just slide it under one of the beds or something, right?” He answered, starting to sound annoyed at my response to my surprise.
“I guess so?” I said, slightly baffled.
“If you don’t want the thing you can return it. I just thought you’d really enjoy it.” James said, obviously irritated and offended that I was not nearly as excited about the mini-trampoline as he was.
“No… it’s fine! I just… I’m just surprised. I mean… it’s just random, is all. It’s not like I’ve ever mentioned wanting a mini-trampoline.”
“You mean kind of like how I never mentioned I wanted rollerblades, and then I got them from you for my birthday that one year?” he retorted.
“You wanted rollerblades! You wanted to learn how to rollerblade!” I said, defending myself.
“No…. YOU wanted me to learn how to rollerblade. So you bought me rollerblades.” he replied.
“Oh. Well. Okay then. So I guess this is kind of the same then. Anyway… it’s fine! I just was surprised. I’m sure I’ll love it after I use it.”
“Sure.” James answered, obviously annoyed. “I’m getting off the phone now. And don’t call me back!” he said, pretending to be angry – but I could hear the smile in his voice.
“Okay, I love you – buh bye!” I answered.
One minute goes by and I get the following text…. I still have the receipt if you would like to take it back and get something more lame, like yoga pants. loves!
I immediately replied… Haha!!! I didn’t say I didn’t want it! I was just confused! Maybe I will use it and LOVE IT! Who knows? 🙂 Either way… thank you for thinking of me! xoxo! You’re adorable!
I arrived home 4 hours later and asked James to assemble my new trampoline (i.e. put the legs on it)… and got right to jumping. And guess what – it turns out my husband knows me better than I know myself apparently (surprise, surprise)… because I. LOVE. IT. I couldn’t stop jumping last night! It’s amazing what jumping does for your stress levels! It got my heart pumping and felt great. And I can just jump on and jump off whenever I please! On my way to the kitchen? JUMP! On my way back from the bathroom? JUMP! Antsy from too much editing and sitting at the computer? JUMP! JUMP! JUMP!
James enjoyed it too. Phoenix on the other hand, was a little leery of the new item in the house, of course.
