Posted on Sunday, Reddit user mylo_account1-07 shared the story on the popular r/tifu forum where it has received more than 35,000 upvotes.
Starting with the sentence: “I’m still chuckling at this,” the Redditor wrote: “Long story short, I forgot my own birthday.”
Going into some more detail, he explained how he came home early from work to surprise his wife—who was in the middle of organizing a surprise for him.
“I walked in quietly and saw her in the kitchen with flour and cake mix on her forehead, and tapestries, birthday cups, flowers, and gifts around the table,” he wrote. “She was making a cake for a surprise party. My surprise party.”
Not wanting to spoil things, he quietly backed out of the house again and went away to wait until 7:30 p.m. to go back home.
“Within the time frame of about 3 and a half hours, I practiced my ‘I’m so surprised’ face,’” he said. “When I came home she yelled ‘surprise!’ and I did a very crappy surprise face, hugged her and we had a movie marathon.”
Surprises might not be for everyone, but research shows that the unexpected can bring vitality to our lives. The 2015 book Surprise: Embrace the Unpredictable and Engineer the Unexpected by Tania Luna and LeeAnn Renninger P.hD. explores the impact of surprise on the human brain.
"Given that surprise exists in every culture, you’d think we’d have figured it out by now," wrote Luna and Renninger in the book. “But surprise remains elusive and widely misunderstood.”
They reveal that the feeling of a surprise actually works on our dopamine system—the bit of the brain that helps us to focus our attention and provide a feeling of reward. While not all surprises are good, Luna and Renninger write that embracing uncertainty and a fear of surprise allows people to live better—bringing more vitality to our lives and even improving society itself.
“The secret will never come out,” wrote the Redditor. “But I think this was the best birthday ever. I find this kinda funny. I will be taking this secret to my grave.”
Alongside a few giggles, the story was dubbed as heartwarming by Reddit users. One commenter said: “How to show someone you love them, and how to return the favor. That was sweet,” while another wrote: “I appreciate that this is so wholesome. I’m glad you played along like you didn’t know what was going on.”
“Man thank you for this wholesome post you made my sh**** day into a good day,” said another user.
Another Redditor suggested he come clean with his wife. “It’d probably make for a good laugh for the two of you if you do tell her,” they wrote.
Newsweek has reached out to mylo_account1-07 for comment.
