Those that know me, know that I love to surprise my wife. Those that can recall my 40th birthday some 15 months ago, know that Anna got me good with 50 or so of my family and closest friends in Westlake. As soon as the party ended, I began thinking about how I could create a special birthday week for her in Florence when she turned 40. I decided to line up a week of surprises for her to make her feel like the special 40 year old that she would become.
Surprise Number One (Felicia) – I simply can’t count how many times Anna’s has said to me “Gosh, my sister Felicia would love this about Florence” or “Oh I wish my sister could experience that.” During each of these occasions a smile would cross my face in quiet anticipation of the day that she would arrive and surprise Anna for her 40th birthday.
The day came on the 16th of March in the late afternoon. I needed an accomplice to pull off the task of shocking her. I know very few people in my life who are better at keeping a secret than my son Trey. He has always been great about keeping things quiet ever since he was a little boy, so I let him in on the surprise and asked him for some ideas on how to pull it off. There is a place in Florence that is an institution for the locals called “Hemmingway”. Hemmingway is a desert house and bar in a hip and cozy setting. During the winter, gelato takes a back seat in Florence to the thickest hot chocolate that you have ever seen. We’re talking melted candy bar in a cup, hot chocolate, no joke!
Hemmingway is known for its hot chocolate (Among many other devilish deserts) and the kids absolutely love going there. Trey’s idea was to beg me to go to Hemmingway and for us to somehow get “Auntie Felicia” there in advance so when we arrived she would be waiting to shock Anna!
The stage was set, early that morning, Trey asked us if we could go to Hemmingway and of course I lobbied in support! That afternoon, we had Trey and Olivia’s bus driver Giovanni pick up Felicia from the airport and upon arrival, shuttle her to Hemmingway.
When we arrived at the cozy hangout, she was no where to be seen. Trey immediately walked around to the back corner table which is not visible when you walk in. I saw him make eye contact with someone and new that it was her. I told Anna to take a walk to the back to see the gelato flavors and when she did, she locked eyes with her sister! To hear Anna describe it would serve much better than any third party account…
Q1: Anna, what were you thinking when you saw Felicia for the first time?
AA: “I wasn’t! My eyes saw her, but my brain wasn’t registering what I was seeing! It was a delayed reaction because she was not supposed to be at Hemmingway in Italy!” “After I realized what was happening, the tears came streaming down both of our faces and I was overtaken with joy!”
Q2: Your sister has never been to Italy and there are so many things that we have experienced that you new she would love. How was it to have her with you for those four days?
AA: “It was excellent. I wish that she could have stayed longer. I was very happy that I had the ability to show her the things that I thought she would enjoy. There have been so many times in the past seven months where we were in a beautiful candy shop, at a great restaurant or on an adventure where I thought of her and wished that she could experience it. I’m so happy she got to experience a fraction of it!”
Q3: What was your favorite moment during the time you spent with Felicia?
AA: “I didn’t really have a favorite moment. Every moment of the four days here in Italy were wonderful. I wish that it didn’t have to end as there is so much more that I wish that she could have experienced.”
Over the next four days we burned the candle pretty hard with Felicia, taking her to some of our favorite restaurants for both lunch and dinner. It was wonderful to show her Florence and the castle for the first time. She visited San Lorenzo Market with us, rode on the motorino with me and toured the city with Alex for an afternoon. She even arrived in time to have Schiaciatta Alla Fiorentina (See past blog), which won her over just like us! It was interesting to witness her observations of the castle unfold as well.
The castle seems to have the same affect on everyone. At first glance its sheer size, history and amazing panoramic views captivate you beyond words. But it’s the little things about the castle that really make it special and take time to unfold. Walking through the gardens or through the streets around its walls at different times of the day, offer different surprises each time as the shadows cast their own visual dimension. The views from the various rooms that point you in all four directions offer their own gifts at different times of the day (The view from the kitchen window in the morning, which faces east offers the peaceful entrance to a new day, while the view of the forest to the South in the late afternoon casts shadows of the over 150 trees on the property that make you feel like you are looking through a forest straight out of Robinhood).
I caught Felicia several times in a tranquil stare as she admired the surrounding landscape. It is always so wonderful for us to have someone experience why we love where we live so much. On numerous occasions, Felicia asked us “How are you going to leave this place?’ It will be one of the more difficult goodbyes of our lives indeed.
Surprise Number 2 (Our Extended Family) – We have made many friends in the time that we have been here, but there is a small list of people that are like family to us. I wanted Anna to experience an Italian birthday dinner with our close friends, so I arranged to have a surprise dinner party at our favorite local restaurant La Vecchia Bettola, where we are treated like family every time we visit.
We walked in to the restaurant to a warm welcome from seven of our closest Italian friends as well as our good friend from California Tracy Tyron and a couple of her recently arrived house guests from Westlake Village.
The evening could not have been more fun. We celebrated Anna’s birthday like any good Italian would, over a long three and a half hour dinner, complete with lots of great wine (Including a sparkling wine made of strawberries, Vin Santo desert wine and grappa). It was great to have Felicia meet our extended family in Italy, which consists of Stella (Our house keeper and occasional babysitter to the kids), Marcella (Our friend and my cooking teacher) and the Meucci Family (Simone, his girlfriend Veronica, brother Andrea and parents Paula and Massimo). Everyone had a blast.
The highlight of the evening was when the lights in the restaurant went dark and the entire place sang Happy Birthday to Anna. When they turned the lights back on she was whipping back the tears. Suffice to say that she won’t forget that night for a long time.
Surprise Number 3 (The Watch) – Five years ago when we were in Milan, we walked into the Cartier Store and saw it for the first time. It was the new Cartier Tortue watch and it was one of the most beautiful watches that I have ever seen. Anna was speechless and marveled at its beautiful simplicity.
I new at that moment that it would be her birthday present when she turned 40.
On her birthday (Our second night in Malta), I asked Olivia for a favor. “Go up to Mommy as she is getting ready for dinner and say: Mommy, you left your watch on the bed!” The look on Anna’s face was priceless as she looked at Olivia’s little hand holding the Tortue that she dreamed of having five years prior.
“My heart can’t take any more surprises, please tell me that this is it”, she said! Mission accomplished. Happy 40th Anna…
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