My Wife's first birthday without Me

My wife's birthday is on 14th of September. It was in the year 2007, and I was on my first few months of work in Singapore. My family is in Cebu, Philippines. Its expected that I cant be at home during her birthday as it would be impractically costly. 

Yes, i know. I can actually just call her and greet her a Happy Birthday. But I don't like it to be as plain as it is.  Its too common.   I like it with a twist.

We in the family are not used to having a feast during our birthdays.  We just have a home-cooked dinner, and we eat together as one family.  As long as we are complete, we are merry.  Just a simple life.  Of course, there's also a simple cake and a simple ice cream.

This time around, its different.  What I did was, i told my wife to celebrate her birthday even if im not around. I told her to go down to the grocery and buy a cake from Goldilocks and a littre of Magnolia ice cream. She didnt like the idea obviously because of my absense. But i manage to convince her that it is worth to celebrate. 

Yup, it still is pretty common, right? Read on and see the twist. 

I actually wanted her to go to the grocery alone. My daughters are at home. What i actually did was that I hired somebody to buy for me a 32 inch teddy bear, a set of heartshaped necklace and ear studs, and a bouquet of fresh red roses - a complete fabulous gift for a fabulous wife. Five minutes after I called my wife to buy cake and ice cream, I also called up my delivery guy. I asked him to deliver my fabulous gift to my home address. And there he went. My kids received them. They were quite smart kids. So they put it in the dinning table where my wife couldn't see it directly from the living room. 

When she arrived, she put the cake and the ice cream on the coffee table in the living hall. She went to the kitchen to take some plates, cups and spoon. 

The she finally discovered! Happy Birthday Mama! Greeted my daughters. My wife couldn't say a word. She hugged the teddy bear (with a tag written as Daddy – that's me) with her right arm and took the red roses with her left hand. Then she went to our bedroom. She cried a lot. When i called to greet her, she was sobbing. She told me that she missed me a lot. And she was very happy that Daddy Bear is now with her. 

My daughters knocked and opened the door. They gave their mother a big hug. I was still on the phone. Then my older daughter Ate Bon opened the small box that my wife had left in the dining table.  A real fabulous collection for a really fabulous wife.  A sterling necklace with a heart-shaped pendant and 2 studs of heart-shaped earrings.

My wife continued to cry.   I could not bare it anymore, so I hanged-up the phone.  Tears fell down my check.  I missed my wife, i missed my family.  But I need to work away from them for our future.

Now,  every night, when I chat with my family over the skype or yahoo messenger, I can see Daddy Bear in our bed headboard - he is wearing the necklace.  My wife has always been wearing the earrings too.  She really love my gifts.