Cautionary tales are not my forté, but this is an important one.

It begins on a beautiful summer afternoon, as two people are joined in holy matrimony. Their names are somewhat unimportant, but for the sake of telling this story, let’s call one Frank and the other Shelly. 

So as we were saying, Frank and Shelly have just gotten married in a beautiful ceremony, surrounded by friends and family (both of which were numerous). They were the textbook definition of a ‘perfect couple’, and everyone knew it. They had never argued (even about wedding and honeymoon arrangements). They had never found each other either embarrassing, or boring. Frank never felt smothered or nagged, and Shelly never felt ignored or unloved.

I hope you’re getting the picture here; Frank and Shelly’s relationship was nothing short of sunshine, rainbows and roses. Even after the wedding and honeymoon, life remained perfect for the newlyweds. But for how long, you ask? 

Let’s fast-forward through their lives until we reach...here: their first anniversary.

As most sentimental loving couples know, the first anniversary is a ‘big deal’. So much so, that even men can’t afford to forget the date and do something ‘romantic’. In fact, 99.99% of men who forget about their first anniversary will get divorced at some point in their marriage (I’m told). But there’s nothing to worry about with Frank. He’s quite the ‘romantic’, and so he’s been planning their anniversary for months now. He’s already made reservations at the finest restaurant in town, booked tickets for the hottest show playing, and bought her that necklace he knew she’d been eyeing for a while now. His friends, especially his married friends, were warning him to tone things down. The popular advice went something like this; of course Frank didn’t want to up the expectations for next year’s anniversary, and subsequently the anniversaries to come. But poor naive Frank laughed off their warnings, informing them that they were simply jealous. So that’s Frank’s side of things. It reeks of a clichéd romance-comedy plot line, but stay with me. 

Shelly knew Frank was planning something, and knew it would likely blow her away. She loved Frank as much as any human can love another, and therefore wanted to do something special for him as well, she just couldn’t decide on what that might be. Perhaps a thoughtful gift would do the trick, Shelly thought. So she went shopping, and as she strolled the endless aisles of retail whimsy, she knew Frank wouldn’t really care for any of it. She shopped for technological gizmos, knick-knacks, books, socks, underwear, even lingerie and clothing for herself. But she knew that none of it would be really special for Frank. So as she left the mall with half a dozen loaded shopping bags in each hand, she still wondered about what she could do or get for her husband.

The fateful day arrived; Frank took Shelly out, blindfolded, and drove her to the finest restaurant in town, which also happened to be where he had proposed to her. He only took her blind-fold off when she was standing right outside the front door. Her squeals and giggles of delight, on top of all the public displays of affection both Frank and Shelly engaged in, was enough to make even the most liberal person gag. The happily married couple was ushered to their seats, and was immediately serenaded by a violinist who played Frank and Shelly’s favorite song that they danced to at their wedding.

The evening was going perfectly Frank felt, however he sensed some hesitancy in Shelly. As they finished their 8-course degustation meal and bade farewell to the establishment, Shelly suddenly becomes subdued. Frank felt that now was a good time to give her the necklace. Shelly takes one look at it, her eyes becoming wide, and then, almost sadly, she smiles at him and gently kisses Frank’s lips. “Thank you,” she says softly.

Frank smiles confusedly, “is something wrong?” His question was simple and honest, as he always was with Shelly. Without warning, Shelly burst into tears and collapses onto Frank’s shoulder. 

“You’re always so perfect to me,” she sobbed into his ear, “and I….and I…” she pauses and pulls away from him.

Frank looks at her confused, “it’s okay,” he says simply and awkwardly, “you’re perfect to me too.” He gives her a faint smile as he brushes the tears from her eyes.

But Shelly isn’t satisfied.

“I wanted to get you something special,” she says, regaining her composure as she holds his hand. “I spent a lot of money Frank, trying to get you something you’d want.” She waits for Frank’s reply but all he does is smile encouragingly, knowing she has more to tell him. “Then I started feeling sick,” Shelly says dramatically. She pauses again. Her melodrama starts to scare Frank now.

“What do you mean?” Frank asks, a look of concern starting to replace his smile.

“I felt sick, I thought it was a bug, the flu or something, but….” Shelly pauses again.

“But, what?!”

“I’m pregnant,” She concludes.

You see dear readers, Frank and Shelly knew that one day they’d have children, both even wanted children, but Frank was very career oriented at this stage of his life. They had both agreed that they’d hold off on having children. 

In this moment, Shelly felt sick to her stomach. She did not doubt the love of her husband, nor his commitment to their family. The thought of a child, their child together, delighted her. And yet, deep down, she felt she had let her sweet and caring husband down. She felt responsible for this baby, and it’s inopportune timing for her husband. She felt guilty that while he gave everything to her, she couldn’t even keep a promise they made to each other before they got married. She felt guilty that they had spent so much money on each other, when another mouth to feed was on its way. And most of all, she felt guilty that she hadn’t told Frank the moment she had found out. She waited tentatively for Frank’s response.

Frank looks at her blankly for a couple of seconds, which felt like an eternity to Shelly. Then, without warning, he holds her close and kisses her. When he pulls away, she sees a smile of delight on his face.

“That’s the best present I could’ve ever asked for,” he states as he holds her close.

Shelly, not daring to believe his reaction asks, “What about your job?”

“Oh, that…is that what had you so worried?” he asks half laughing. “I was going to tell you later tonight: I got promoted.”

Shelly’s body relaxes as she hugs and kisses her husband back. She starts to laugh half out of relief half out of joy.

The couple walks back to their car, smiling, holding hands and talking about their hopes and dreams for their unborn child.

That, my dear readers, is the end of our cautionary tale. I hear you asking me: what caution is to be drawn from this tale? The answer is simple. The story above is entirely fictional; it has never happened and it will never happen in the history of humanity. The story is of a perfect couple, with a perfect life, and perfect events orchestrating themselves simultaneously to bring about a perfect ending. Life does not work this way. Life is messy, life is hard, life will let you down. All we can hope to do in the face of life’s unending challenges is to tackle them with courage, conviction and dignity.

So what is the moral of this story, the caution of this tale? Don’t believe everything you read.