I read an article in the Wall Street Journal this week that talked about the little white lies we tell our significant other to avoid confrontation and maintain harmony in the household.  I found the article interesting as I prepared to drop a surprise on my wife, Carrie, for our 25th anniversary.  The surprise required many deceptions and little lies to make sure that the gift I was preparing was truly a surprise.  I wasn't the only one lying, but we'll get to that later.

It began last March when I decided that I was going to use my hobby of guitar playing and song writing to create a masterpiece for my beloved spouse.  Initially, there wasn't any lying going on, but I did need to play and write the music on the QT.  While she most likely heard the chords being strummed from my home office, I don't think she really had any idea what the song was or its intent.

The song was complete and ready to be recorded in May, but summer came and the song was put on the back burner for awhile.  As August kicked into gear, I needed to solicit the assistance of my buddy, Rick, to get the song recorded.

LIE#1:  I needed time to go to Rick's house to lay down the recording.  I told my wife that my dad needed help with his computer again and that I was headed over there to assist him in a time of need.  Of course my parents had to be complicit in this lie.  I called them and explained to them what I was doing.  If Carrie called, just act like I'm over there and too busy to do anything else but deal with computer problems.  We were able to lay down the original tracks that evening.

LIE#2:  We needed to fix up portions of the original tracks so I needed some more time to get over to Rick's.  Wednesday evenings during golf season are perfect because I don't often come home right after golf.  This afforded me the opportunity to go over to Rick's and finish our recording session.  I didn't get home until 10 PM that night and my wife said, "It sure took you a while to finish your post round camaraderie."  "Well Honey, Kramer (one of the golf buddies), was extra verbose tonight and we just lost track of time".

Fortunately, Rick was able to enhance the song without me around.  He added drums, bass, mandolin and another guitar part.  That saved me any number of lies.

It came time to put the music to pictures and video.  I had video from our wedding already on the computer but I needed to get the wedding album so I could scan pictures.  Where was that album?  I discovered it on the top shelf of our bedroom closet!  Now I needed Carrie to leave for a bit so I could scan those pictures.

One day she had to run our youngest to the store.  I knew I didn't have much time.  The garage door closed and I ran to the closet to get the album.  I  quickly rifled through it to find a few pictures that would be suitable and scanned them into the computer.  It felt like a "Mission Impossible" episode and I feared that I could get caught at any moment as I rushed to get the pictures back into the album in the same order and fashion as I had found them.  Mission accomplished!

Over time, I quietly assembled the photos and video I had to the music I had written.  I was hell bent on making this production a tear jerker!  But how would I present it to her?

I tried to get her to agree to gather a few people for our anniversary including members of the wedding party.  She didn't bite.  So I went about the process of setting up a surprise anniversary party.  (Who has a surprise anniversary party?)

I finally decided that we would first have dinner together and then meet at another intimate location to spring the surprise.  How was I going to get her to change locations.

LIE#3:  We have good friends that we are often socializing with.  Every Saturday, I get together with the husband and another buddy for coffee.  The plan was to tell Carrie on the Saturday morning of the event that Les and Bonnie wanted to meet to have an after dinner drink and celebrate with us.  I came home from coffee and perpetrated that "sort of" lie.  After all, we were going to have a drink with them (and 36 other invited guests) so it wasn't a total lie.  She accepted the deception without a hitch.  Who would be expecting a surprise anniversary music video presentation?

LIE#4:  (Not perpetrated by me) My little surprise forced other people to lie for me!  When my wife pressed my 19 year old on his intentions for the evening, he had to tell her he was going to a movie with his girlfriend and might be willing to take the 14 year old son along with him if the rating of the movie was suitable.  (What a chip off the old block!)  They were, of course, invited to the party.

The night had come and I was eagerly anticipating the event.  I was extremely nervous that something might go wrong.  Please no technical difficulties.

Dinner went smoothly and orderly.  While she was in the bathroom on the way out of the restaurant, I called and alerted my friend at the site of the event that we would be there shortly.

LIE#5:  (Again not perpetrated by me)  When we arrived, the hostess indicated that the main pub was closed for a private party and that we would have to go donwstairs in the auxiliary pub (where our guests lie in wait).

We opened the doors of the pub to shouts of, "Happy Anniversary!"  Carrie was completely surprised and we sat her down with a box of tissues and played the video for her.

To see the video go to: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm7SDipYVYo

The moral of the story is that sometimes lies are a good thing and people enjoy these little lies when they know that it will eventually bring joy to the person being lied to!