Millions have viewed the “hitting the jackpot” video. If you haven’t yet, you can find it below (I apologize for a bit of language in the middle there, but you’ll get over it.)
[youtube link=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqebEymqFS8″ width=”590″ height=”315″]What I think so many of us love about this video is the astonishment of this guy at “seeing his wife for the first time.” You see, he’s coming out of hernia repair surgery and recovering from the anesthesia. So that’s why he’s forgetful and truly at first forgets that he is married.
I think this video has two responses, categorized by gender:
Men think: “Uh oh, if my lady see this it’d gonna dial up the pressure to say nice things to her! I better get a good one ready!”
Women think: “I need to find a way to get my man some unnecessary surgery to find out what he really thinks of me.”
It is such a cute and beautiful moment caught by a camera phone. I saw the couple interviewed and they seem like truly regular people. And no, the lady is not a model who orchestrated this to launch her modeling career. Also, while many cry “hoax” at these candid camera videos after a few notable tricksters, this one does appear real.
When he finally looks at his wife, Jason says, “Did the Doctor send you? Man you are eye candy! You may be the prettiest woman I’ve ever seen. Are you a model?”
This is some pretty over the top stuff for a husband to say. Most men are not this mushy. My favorite moments are these, and I have some thoughts on affirming our wives to say to each:
“Whoah, your teeth are perfect!” – I love that Jason picks out this one part of his wife and makes note of it. I don’t know if this guy just loves perfect teeth, but on his inside he must value this a bunch. I wonder if we husbands should do this. No woman is entirely perfect of course. We don’t obsess over their inadequacies and imperfections, but our ladies often do. Maybe from time to time we need to find one things about our wives–be it their perfect ears, their perfect eyes, their perfect hair, or, ahem, other things, to privately tell them. (FYI: doing this on Facebook is a bit much, fellas, keep it to the home, brother!)
David and Kathy Drury 2013
“Do we call each other ‘baby’?” – I also love it that Jason calls her “baby” — a term of affection, then questions, in his amnesiac state, whether they really use this pet name for each other. Do you have a pet name for your “baby?” Perhaps we men could be a little more intentional to use these pet names. Recently I’ve “brought out of retirement” some pet names I called my wife more than 15 years ago. I’m telling you guys — this never gets old!
“Oh my God, I hit the jackpot!” – Well, Jason goes over the top on this one. Kinda hard for us fellas to exclaim this kind of jackpot-winning-glee while we’re cleaning up the kids poopy diaper explosion or after mowing the lawn for the then thousandth time. However… I need to admit that I, David Drury, also hit the jackpot in my wife, Kathy Drury. And that’s not just about looks (although in the pic below I’m sure you’ll confirm that too)… in a myriad of ways I hit the jackpot in my wife picking me too. I don’t deserve her for sure, and she makes me feel every bit the winner that Jason feels like in this video. And no, I don’t need to be under anesthesia to say so.
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Check out my book Being Dad, where in chapter 14, called “I’ll never leave her: loving mom” I the wrote the following:
“Love Mom and you’ll be a better dad; you’ll be the kind of dad and husband a son would want to be when he grows up.”
Being Dad by David Drury
