Call your brother!

Today’s my anniversary, both of the day that Andrea and I got married (seven years ago) and of the day we started dating (eleven years before that). This morning I got a congratulatory e-mail from my sister Suzanne that read in part:

Subject: Happy anniversary

…of the day you nearly gave me a heart attack.

The story:

Having been together for almost eleven years when we finally decided to get married (in a domino effect beginning with our friends John and Linda and then Scott and Patrice), Andrea and I dreaded planning a big wedding full of guests all of whom would say to us, “What took you so long?” So we eloped to Disneyworld. We were married in a small ceremony (witnessed by those same friends Scott and Patrice) beneath a palm tree on a grassy hill between Disney’s Polynesian Resort and the adjacent lagoon, with views of Cinderella’s Castle and Space Mountain in the distance. It was very memorable.

Coincidentally, Suzanne had a European vacation planned for the same period of time. Our wedding package included a limo ride around Orlando after the ceremony, and one of the things we planned to do during that ride was to call our families and surprise them with our happy news; but I had no way to contact Suzanne, whose European itinerary was fluid at best. However, I did know she’d be checking her Hotmail account from time to time. So before leaving for Florida, I programmed my computer to send her this e-mail message at 3pm on our wedding day:

Subject: Call your brother!

Hi Suze! Please call me ASAP on Andrea’s cell phone.

Poor Suzanne saw the message within two hours but had no way of calling for several hours more, during which time she was sure something terrible had happened! In my excitement before leaving for Florida it never occurred to me that my message could be taken that way. When I did finally speak to her, she tried to be glad about my news but was pretty annoyed at having worried all day for nothing.

Her annoyance was not improved by my laughter at her expense.

Andrea: Happy anniversary, I love you! Suzanne: Sorry again! I love you too.

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