While I Was Out

Okay, I'll be honest. I thought my evening tonight would consist of eating some feta-stuffed-chicken, watching Alias, and maybe writing a Hunter S. Thompson-esque blog entry about my last three days in Las Vegas.

Instead, I arrived home after a full day of delayed-airline travel to find... that my incredible wife had perpetrated a scheme so devious, so complete, so utterly improbable, that in 4 to 6 weeks you will be able to see me express my genuine disbelief of her craftiness on an episode of the TV show While You Were Out.

Let me explain.

While You Were Out is a show on the cable channel TLC. It generally involves a spouse tricking their significant other into going out of town for a few days. While this person is "out" so to speak, a room or area of the couple's house is fully redesigned and remodeled and they return home to video cameras and a TV crew which films the reaction and surprise.

Well... it turns out that my trip to Vegas (which will be chronicled later this week) was moved up from this fall in order to serve as cover for WYWO to come to our house and completely redo our backyard. And when I walked into the backyard this evening after an impossibly difficult day of travel, I was greeted by a camera crew, 20 of my closest family and friends, and a design crew from WYWO including Evan, Leslie, and Andrew. These folks, along with Gina, our tenants Dave and Terri, and some other helpful people, spent the last three days taking our backyard from a sad, dog-poo laden wasteland, to an amazing Greek themed paradise, which contains a huge wooden deck, a fire pit, a stone patio, and poo-barrier zone (also referred to as Poland), and a much diminished dog run for... well, you guessed it, poo.

There's also some incredible furniture and a ton of amazing landscaping and plants. The only thing that's missing is Greek serving boys. To quote Dave Barry, "I'm not making this up." So I walked into our backyard, and they immediately filmed my reaction and put me through the "reality TV wringer" and the episode is supposed to air in the next 4 to 6 weeks.

Apparently Gina has been coordinating this for the last 6 weeks, and almost every friend and family member I have in the Chicagoland area has been in on the conspiracy. For once, I'm speechless. Stunned. Nothing else to say.

Except: the party's at our house for the summer. And stay tuned for more info on when you'll get to see me look completely baffled on TV.

jbg