As someone who grew up feeling very close to her family, I remember my first birthday away from home as a freshman in college. I awoke knowing I wouldn’t walk downstairs and find the dining room table decorated with the Happy Birthday placemats that my mom always took out of storage for every family member’s birthday. There wouldn’t be birthday pancakes. No homemade cake. I didn’t dwell on it too much, but I remember feeling a little sad.
My birthday always fell during finals week in college and I had tests and studying on my mind. When I got a call from Ryan saying he had a birthday surprise for me, I didn’t think too much of it. We started dating less than three months before my birthday and were still in that awkward “Are we officially a couple?” stage, so I wasn’t expecting a gift. I figured he planned a casual dinner for us at our favorite sushi place near campus or something of the sort.
(Throwback pic! College kids!)
When I pulled up to Ryan’s apartment early that evening, he met me at my car and handed me a card. I tucked my finger under the envelope flap and opened the card to find the first clue of a birthday scavenger hunt.
I was shocked.
He had me drive all over town to spots that meant something to us as a new couple, collecting gifts along the way. I was blown away.
When his birthday rolled around that October, I knew I wanted to make him feel as special and adored as he made me feel. I sneaked into his apartment, decorated his room, baked his favorite cake and planned a fun date. I remember wrapping his presents on the floor of my bedroom, hoping he would like everything. Hoping he would feel special and loved.
And then I realized something. This is amazing.
(The night of our engagement)
Before Ryan I felt like I was always the one giving the love. Always pouring my heart out and showing how much I cared. It didn’t really register at the time, but looking back, I realize now that I would anxiously wait for birthdays or holidays because I knew that I’d get a card and that was one of the only times I heard how much I meant to someone.
Ryan showed me what it meant to feel adored. To feel loved. To feel like a priority. I wanted to make sure he felt the same. It was like a love challenge!
Every year when Ryan’s birthday rolls around, I am filled with the same desire to make him feel special.
To Ryan:
I hope you feel special today. I love you very, very much. Happy 29th birthday!
Question of the Morning
- What is something that someone did for you that surprised you and made you feel special?
Please share your stories! I’m in the mood for warm fuzzies today. 
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How sweet! Happy Birthday Ryan!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN!! 🙂
you two are such a beautiful couple, and it’s so nice to see people clearly in love and who were meant to be together. I hope it’s a wonderful day!
You guys are so sweet! Happy Birthday Ryan! He shares a birthday with my nephew Landon who is turning 8 today. 😉
happy birthday to landon!!! did you know october 5 is america’s most common birthday? http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2011/10/oct-5-americas-most-common-birthday/ they’re in good company!
That’s because it’s nine months after New Years Haha!!! I worked obstetrics and they always have extra staff on around late Sept and early Oct. because it was so busy.
That is so funny because my fb feed had 5 birthdays this morning, which is by far the most I’ve seen in one day.
hahhahaha that comment comment made me laugh! That totally makes sense though~:D Julie and Ryan! I hope you guys have a blessed day, and have lots of fun!
this is crazy! it’s my birthday today too! 🙂
This is such a sweet post! Happy Birthday Ryan! I hope you have fun celebrating today! 🙂
Oh my gosh this is making my heart melt. That is such a wonderful story. I’m so happy that you two found each other, and that Ryan showed you what true love is all about! 🙂 Happy Birthday Ryan!! I’m sure he feels extra special and appreciates all of the love you give him each and every day.
Love this…Haopy birthday, Ryan!
Y’all are a precious couple! Happy birthday, Ryan!!
My husband did something on our wedding day that made me feel absolutely adored. Last year, after already planning our wedding for one year with one year left to go {5-year engagement, much?}, I found out my cousin/MOH was given the opportunity to study abroad in Italy. {How could you pass that up, right?!} Unfortunately, she left for Italy the week before our wedding and could no longer be in it. I was bummed but my best friend and co-MOH stepped up to plate and was amazing! However, I was still missing my cousin and after our wedding ceremony, when Glenn and I had a few moments to ourself to just hang out, he told me he had a surprise – and handed me his phone with my cousin on Skype all the way from Italy!!! There were so. many. tears. It was truly the sweetest, most thoughtful gesture and solidified, for the millionth time, why I married that man 🙂
he’s a keeper. 🙂
When I started eating healthy a few months ago all of my coworkers were really supportive. Every birthday we always have a lunch with everyone plus a bday cake. This year, they got soup and sandwiches for me rather than pizza, but one coworker went one step up. She told the party planner to NOT buy me a cake. The night before she made me healthier pumpkin cupcakes and told me she was so proud of my hard work and didn’t want me to waste it in one day. It was one of the best gifts I could have been given!
what a thoughtful coworker!!!
Happy Birthday, Ryan!! Y’all are wonderful. Such a great reminder to all of us single gals out here 🙂
On one of my first birthdays after we were married, I came home from work to find a note “Pack an overnight bag and be ready to leave when I get home.” He took me to Charlotte, NC for a fancy dinner and overnight hotel stay. We were poor college kids at the time. It was so exciting! We’ve been married 21 years now and the excitement is still there! Hope you have many special birthdays together! 🙂
i LOVE this!!!!
Happy birthday Ryan! It’s my own husband’s 30th birthday tomorrow! I’m throwing him a party (not a surprise or anything) and I’m really excited. I made a guest book on Shutterfly with photos of him and the things he loves, and plenty of blank space for all the party guests to write him a special message. I’m also going to make a ton of cupcakes as soon as I get home from work! 😉
ooooh 30!!!! that’s a big one! your guest book sounds so sweet. i’m sure he will love it!
Happy birthday to Ryan!
(My 29th birthday is next Friday, so we’ve got that in common!)
Happy brithday to Ryan! That story was so sweet. I’m in my early 20s and right now I feel like you used to with other guys- like I’m giving more than I ever get in return. But maybe things will change and i’ll find my “Ryan” one day! Luckily, I have amazing friends and family who are caring and generous, and that’s what’s important to me right now. 🙂
YES!!! you absolutely will. it was kind of odd – i never really realized that me not feeling truly loved was the biggest issue in my relationship before ryan. i just thought it was the long distance, but once ryan and i got together and i really, really felt loved, i realized what was actually wrong in my previous relationship. it’s wonderful to feel so in love with someone, but it’s incredibly important to feel that love in return.
Kinda freaks me out, I always tell myself the same thing – that the reason I feel like I’m the only one who cares is because I’m in a long distance relationship, but your story is making me rethink that! Whew. We’ve only been together two years, but it’s still scary to think about!
Yes! This! That’s how it hit me too. When you find someone who wants to make you a priority as much as you want to make them a priority.
Happy Birthday Ryan!
Happy Birthday, Ryan! You guys have a great story!
I remember that first college birthday. My birthday landed a few weeks after school started so NO ONE celebrated with me, really (I didn’t have a lot of friends yet), but my mom sent me a totally mangled (thank you, post office) Walmart birthday cake, and my sister sent me flowers, which was so nice. The next year, my friends took me to dinner. The best, I think, was senior year when two of my friends drove me to St. Louis where we went to the Zoo, got Otter triplets at the Build-a-Bear inside the zoo, and stopped at White Castle on the way home. The best part? I didn’t have to drive! (I was the designated driver in our group because I was the only one with a license (and we were in our 20’s. Sad? Yep).
Love this post, Julie… you guys are really so lucky.
That is just so sweet! I think it’s really the little things that my husband does everyday that make me feel special – be it a sweet text message, emptying the dishwasher before I get home from work or offering to make me pancakes on a Sunday morning (even though he doesn’t like them) 🙂 Happy birthday Ryan!
Happy Bday to Ryan! Love your birthday story 🙂
In August we had our first wedding anniversary and my husband surprised me with an overnight stay at a nice spa resort about 10 minutes away from our house. We got massages, spent all day at the spa, then enjoyed dinner there and stayed over, even though it was close to home. It was such a nice staycation and I felt really pampered!
Happy Birthday to Ryan 🙂 What a beautiful story!
I LOVE birthdays…I don’t know why, it was never a huge deal at my house when it was one of our birthdays, (maybe that’s why I make such a big deal about them) but now I CANNOT wait each year for Craig’s birthday. I always try to plan a surprise for him…and I make it a birthday week each year. I have a little surprise for him each day- from his favorite meal to a new work shirt..and then on his actual birthday I have something big planned. Haha, now I just sound lame 😉
This is absolutely adorable! Happy birthday to Ryan!!
I feel the same way about my boyfriend. In other relationships I always felt like I was going out of my way to show the other person that I cared for them but never really got the same in return. When I met my current boyfriend, that all changed. He’s not a big “romantic gesture” kind of guy, but he shows his love in the little moments. But during our first Valentine’s Day he totally surprised me. We had only been together maybe 4ish months at that point. As we walking into the restaurant for our romantic dinner, there was a vase with roses set on the table. I looked around and noticed no other tables had such flowers, and figure out that they were from him! He had ordered them before dinner and had them sent to the restaurant to surprise me. It was probably one of the more romantic things he’s done. Such a sweet heart!
I love this so much! it is so true though, past relationships I was in I was doing everything for the person and not getting anything in return. One of my ex boyfriends didnt get me anything because he had no “money” which was understandable but then he bought himself stuff for his motorcycle and I called him out on it. My current boyfriend bought me an xmas gift after only knowing each other for a few weeks! It is amazing how lucky you feel when you find someone who appreciates you and shows you how much they love and care about you! the happiest of birthday to Ryan!
This is so sweet! It’s the thoughtful gestures that are NOT expected that mean the most 🙂
That story just made my day. 🙂 I totally identify with you — I would always spend a lot of time on other people’s birthdays, but never had the experience reciprocated until I met Ben. After we had been dating for about a month (and had only been in official dating status for a week!!), we went home for winter break (he went to Philly and I went to Chicago). We had final papers due after the break and I was stressed (it was my first year in grad school). Ben sent me this unbelievable care package — filled with my favorite candy, articles and chapters he photocopied that were related to my paper topic, new highlighters and colored pens, and a sweet work playlist. I opened it in my kitchen with my mom, and she burst into tears, saying “you’re finally being treated the way you’ve deserved to be!”
Aww, this really made me smile 🙂
Happy birthday Ryan! I hope he has a great day 🙂 I’m just like you in the sense that I always want others to feel loved and special so I have faith that one day I’ll find a great guy who will treat me like Ryan does to you. You two are an example of what love is.
My birthday always fell during spring break, so my best friend was going to pick me up from college and go to a Switchfoot concert before heading home. She surprised me by driving 2 hours home to pick up my crush, and then drove another 2 hours to my college and surprised me with the boy! She bought him a ticket to the concert too, and after a great night with them we drove home and went to a diner for a late night breakfast. I think it had to have been the most creative present I’ve ever received! Happy to say she’s still my best friend!
For my husband’s 30th birthday last year I made him a book filled with pictures and little stories from all his friends and family. I sent emails to all our friends and family and had them send me their favorite “Cary” story. It was hilarious to read all the stories. I typed up the stories and collected pictures and put them in a 4×6 photo album slots so the stories corresponded with pictures of who wrote it. He was really touched when he started reading all the stories and it actually made him cry. 🙂
I will share my engagement story in a seperate post. 🙂
That’s so sweet! My boyfriend and I have never been big on birthdays or holidays, we buy “logical” gifts… like I said I wanted a Kindle for my birthday so that’s what he got me hah, neither of us are creative.
Happy Birthday to Ryan. It is special when my DH has heard me say something is special and then follows through on it. He had heard me say that I thought a simple string of pearls was something every woman should have. I don’t know why. I just think they are so classy. And a couple of years ago, he surprised me with some of my own. I was shocked.
The Kidless Kronicles
This is SO Cute!!! You two are the cutest couple ever! Happy birthday Ryan!
Happy birthday to Ryan! I love this post so much and I think it fabulous that both of you love each other so deeply and make an effort to SHOW one another.
One of the sweetest things my boyfriend has done for me on my birthday was, when I was working abroad and we were living almost 7000 miles apart, he made sure that a big bouquet of flowers showed up on my desk in the office when I walked in that morning. To this day, I have no idea how he managed to get flowers delivered to my desk from halfway around the world, but it put a stupid grin on my face for the rest of the day!
I felt so loved the birthday that my husband, then boyfriend, planned a secret special day for me. It started with him letting me drive his mustang for the first time, a trip to the zoo, complete with picnic! It was just so thoughtful that he planned everything out and had put time and energy into planning a special day. I am just smiling remembering that day, now almost 10 years ago! Happy birthday to Ryan!!!!!
My engagement story was so perfect. I was in a sorority in college. We had work week the week before school started getting everything planned and ready for recruitment. The last day we had a candle pass and everyone thought it was me who was engaged. I knew it wasn’t me but everyone was convinced it was. We went to the candle pass and the room was decorated with rose petals, candle light, soft music…beautiful. We went through the candle pass and as we passed the candle different sisters would read quotes or passages. At one point, a sister read the words to our song. Once the candle went around 4 times (signaling engagement) and no one blew out the candle (indicating it was them) Cary came out from hiding under a table in a suit and asked me to marry him in front of my entire sorority. It was so sweet, so thoughtful, it was perfect! 🙂
So heart-warming, what a great way to start my morning. Happy Birthday Ryan!
This was so sweet Julie! It really resonated with me..that’s how my husband (we just got married August 11) makes me feel. HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN!!!!
This is adorable. I only hope I find someone I love (and loves me) as much as you two do! Happy birthday Ryan!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO RYAN!!!
This is adorable and a very HAPPY Birthday to Ryan!
That is so sweet Julie! I love the idea of a love challenge! 🙂
Your post had me in tears and when I read your engagement story I couldn’t stop crying. What a great story!
My husband always surprises me. We been together ten yrs and married for six. Every yr on my birthday he hides all my cards that come in the mail. He puts a card in diff places throughout the house…the car, the fridge, shower, cabinet etc etc…I love finding them in diff places and it never gets old. He once surprised me with a vacation and put a card and the trip info in my purse and I didn’t use that purse for a few days so he was anxiously waiting for me to find the trip info lol..I finally found it a few days later…..he proposed to me after we went hiking in NC and reached the water falls…I can go on and on with the surprises I just love them! Happy bday to Ryan!
I don’t have any good birthday stories, but for my junior prom, my boyfriend of 3 months (who was a senior) made me breakfast in bed (made breakfast at his house and then brought it to me, along with a rose), sent me roses during the day while I was getting my hair done, and showed up on my front porch with more roses. Then he serenaded me on my front porch (with the whole neighborhood watching) and rolled out a red carpet from his car to my front door. It was awesome. 🙂
This is seriously the sweetest post ever! I got some goosebumps while reading it.. love it! 🙂
Happy birthday to Ryan!! It is so special to have someone that makes you feel so loved and that you honestly enjoy making them feel loved.
One time when I was feeling really homesick on Australia Day I got home from a crappy day at work. My fiancé ( Chris) lead me into the kitchen and there was an assortment of some of my favourite Aussie things and a bunch of flowers! It wasn’t something huge or over the top but knowing that he understood me and wanted to do something special for me really made me feel loved. And I know how hard it is to get to the ‘Australian’ shop, he walked for miles in the rain! Aww.
I seriously teared up a little. I know, I’m a sap, but I just love love, and you can definitely see it with you two 🙂 Happy Birthday Ryan!
This post gave me the warm fuzzies for sure! Makes me wanna hug the hubby a little tighter tonight. It wasn’t until I met my husband that I realized what it was like to feel special every single day. He always calls us a team and his actions definitely demonstrate that. It’s in the little things too…I make dinner, he cleans up…I do the laundry, he puts it away…the flowers every once in awhile for no reason don’t hurt either 😉 Happy Birthday to your husband! Enjoy the day 🙂
Happy birthday Ryan! My husband gave me the best surprise! Before we dated, we were in the awkward stage of “what are we doing?!”. So one day his best friend Megan (who was a groomswoman in our wedding!) picked me up randomly and started to drive me to the beach. She handed me a letter from Wayne (husband) saying how much he cares about me and to go to the big stage in the beach. I went there, and there was a letter explaining i had to do a huge scavenger hunt all over the beach! The last clue made me walk down the pier, which was covered in ice and I was so afraid I was going to fall… And at the end of the pier, wayne had a rose and asked me to be his girlfriend! It was an awesome surprise!!
Love this post! Happy birthday to your husband… My sister’s is today too, which rings true to your previous comment on Oct 5 being the most common!
My feel-good story is similar to yours – during my first birthday while dating my boyfriend. He and I are from different states (met in college). He drove with me 5 hours to celebrate my birthday at home with my family, which was already so fun.
Halfway through the drive, he said he had to drop off a work document at a company dinner – it turned out that he planned a surprise dinner with some of my best friends that I hadn’t even introduced him to yet! If that wasn’t enough, the next morning, he was encouraging me to flip through the local newspaper. So while I was going through it, I noticed a picture of me in it. Turns out he had submitted an article in the “Special Occasion” sections telling me how much he cared. So sweet. I cried all over the newspaper. 😛
oh my gosh! he is one heck of a thoughtful guy!!
Thanks, Julie! If I didn’t have extra copies of the article, I’d swear it was a dream! Haha, he’s a keeper like Ryan 😉
How SWEET! I love this, Julie 🙂 especially because I can relate–I was like that too…me giving so much, and not getting much in return. UNTIL my amazing husband cam along (tomorrow we celebrate our first date anniversary, actually) 🙂 He’s amazing.
One time a friend got the recipe (she emailed my sis, secretly) for my fav carrot cake & because she didn’t have real carrots on hand, she grated BABY carrots by hand, for my homemade carrot cake b/c she knew I loved celebrating my b-day (and no fam was around) & that I loved that cake. WOW.
Happy birthday Ryan!
Dan is also a big fan of the scavenger hunt. One was involved the night he proposed!
I think the sweetest thing he did for one of my birthdays (I think we had been dating for 3-4 years?) was spell out “I love you” on my bed with roses. He also attached little memories and notes about why he loved me on each rose. I have a hard time making things like that up to him (especially b/c his birthday is 4 days before mine), but I’m definitely a lucky girl 🙂
All lovely stories! Happy birthday to Ryan! 🙂 My husband always gives me presents that I really like! I am always wondering I am so easily pleased by any present I receive. Even if it is just a gift card I am more than happy because I always have something that I want to buy. Thanks for sharing your stories! Wish you all health and happiness! 🙂
Happy Birthday, Ryan! My husband and I dated long-distance for about a year, and I remember several times when he showed up unannounced (including our engagement!). That may be the best surprise ever 🙂
You guys are like the cutest couple! By the way, you haven’t changed much since college…!!! Must be all that time in the gym! Happy Birthday Ryan!
Just yesterday I received not one, but TWO bouquets of flowers delivered at work from my husband. The first to say thanks for my extra work w/ the kids during harvest & the second to say good luck on my first marathon this weekend! 🙂
what a sweetheart!!!