Blindfolded Road Trip

Have you ever been blindfolded during a road trip that lasted for an hour and a half? Sounds like a hostage kind of a trip, right? I know. It recently happened to me the day before my 14th wedding anniversary. Fortunately, it wasn't a captive situation, though.

When my husband Collin left for work that morning, he told me to pack a bag! No, he wasn't kicking me out! He simply told me to pack for a trip and be prepared to leave home at 6:00 that evening.

"Pack a bag to go where?" I asked.

Although the mystery about our adventure was appealing to me, I needed to have some idea of the type of clothing I should pack for our son Caleb and me.

"Pack as though you are going to Bermuda," my husband replied.

Bermuda?

Since Collin had to return to work in less than 48 hours, it was highly unlikely we were heading to that beautiful island where I was born and raised - the place where Collin and I met - the place where our journey as Mr. and Mrs. Powell began - the place where the majority of my family reside.

Fast forward to about 5:00 p.m., that day - June 5, 2006.

"You ready?" my husband called out to Caleb and me as soon as he stepped in the house upon returning home from work. However, as usual, prior to leaving for any trip, I still had that something else to do: remove some last-minute clothing from the dryer, double-check windows to be sure they were locked, ensure the stove/oven was turned off, the lights, the AC, and so on. But, even with all of my this-and-that stuff to do, at 6:08 p.m., we were on our way!

A few minutes into our drive, Collin pulled over to blindfold me to totally keep me clueless about our journey. His plan was to make me think we were heading to the airport although I knew (kind of) that was not in our travels.

"Do you think I'm going to sit up in this car with a necktie wrapped around my eyes?" I asked. "People will think I'm crazy."

"Well, you better get in the back seat and lie down or something; take a nap!" Collin insisted.

"Okay, I can do that," I replied.

Caleb and I switched seats. Although our son is at a legal weight to drive in the front passenger's seat, we don't make that a practice; however, we made the exception this time. He became Collin's co-pilot, and whenever I started to question how much longer I needed to hide out in the back of the car, my 10-year-old son was my comforter: "We're almost there, Mommy! Not much longer now, " - although, like me, he had no idea where we were going.

About an hour and a half later, Collin instructed: "Penny, sit up! You're in Bermuda."

"You mean I can really look now?" I asked. "Are you sure?"

I was so into this mystery trip by now that I really didn't want the spirit of it to end. Little did I know that the surprise was far from over. Anyway, I followed Collin's rules of the game and sat up.

There we were! Well, where were we?

I had no idea what part of Florida we were in. We could have been in Georgia for all I knew. According to Collin, we were in Bermuda - as if we can drive there! Or did he think I thought he had transferred me to a plane in my blindfolded, partially-napping state?

I noticed that we were on a narrow residential street with a strong resemblance to a Bermuda street. It had lovely colorful houses on it - like in Bermuda. In the near distance, there was a fairly short bridge which Collin likened to The Causeway, a popular bridge in Bermuda.

"We have to use our imaginations," Collin suggested.

"Wow, honey," I exclaimed. "I guess you have been listening to me all of those times I told Caleb about the power of imagination, and that "imagination is more powerful than knowledge." (Albert Einstein ) "Caleb, what a perfect example Daddy is showing you about where our imaginations can take us," I commented with delight.

I then thanked Collin for making this a family adventure - realizing he could have very well planned it as a couple's getaway in celebration of our 14 years of marriage.

"So, how'd you find this area?" I asked. "This had to have taken some careful planning."

Collin seemed to ignore my question and comment because of how intently he was observing this "Bermuda" street we were on; he continued to point out similarities to our cherished Bermuda - the real Bermuda. Then, before long, he pulled up in the parking lot of a hotel called.......The Bermuda House.

"Oh, my goodness!" I cried out, almost in tears. "The Bermuda House! You've even found a hotel to match this theme you have going on. Wow!" I was stunned.

"I'm sorry if the hotel doesn't turn out to be as beautiful as a Bermuda hotel would be," said Collin. "I only booked it because of the name. I'm hoping for the best."

After we checked into the hotel, we strolled to the back of the property to take a peak at the lengthy beach before taking our bags to our second-floor room which turned out, by the way, to be okay. (We thought the hallways and elevator could have done with some more care and attention, but our room that had a lovely view of a well-kept pool was clean and quite comfortable. Ocean-front rooms are also available but were booked at the time of our stay.)

During our time observing the beach, Collin noted, "It has pink sand like Bermuda's beaches," while pointing at the grains of sand along the lengthy shore.

"No, it doesn't!" I replied while thinking that nothing on earth can truly compare to Bermuda. However, as I looked a little more closely, there was definitely some redish/pinkish sand on the beach - not the typical Bermuda pink sand, but beautiful, colorful sand nonetheless.

Blinking my eyes and shaking my head in disbelief, I said, "Collin, you have really gone all out to recreate Bermuda for us - with your imagination - right here in Daytona Beach - only about an hour or so away from home! You are amazing, simply amazing."

I stood in awe of the lengths my husband had gone to not only make our 14th anniversary so special, but my heart was also overjoyed because our son was right by our side and caught up in the spirit of Bermuda with us as he witnessed such a creative, loving dad and husband.

At that moment, life was perfect. Being a wife was perfect; having Collin as my husband was perfect; us raising Caleb together was perfect. Perfect! Perfect! Perfect!

While perfection is so rarely felt in life, I surely felt it then. I, therefore, had sense enough to know to just breathe, inhale the smell of the ocean, visualize all of my loved ones in Bermuda, and completely be smack bam in that Bermuda moment.