Hollister’s Mr. Romantic makes the rest of us look bad
There are certain guys that other guys respect and disdain at
the same time. Hollister’s Andy Chatham, the romantic that he is,
is one of those guys.
Most men don’t need other dudes raising the bar and setting the
standard any higher than it needs to be when it comes to our wives
or significant others. Most of us already are forgetful,
unromantic
– though well-meaning – schlubs who want our lady to be happy;
it’s just that we don’t plan that well.
Hollister’s Mr. Romantic makes the rest of us look bad
There are certain guys that other guys respect and disdain at the same time. Hollister’s Andy Chatham, the romantic that he is, is one of those guys.
Most men don’t need other dudes raising the bar and setting the standard any higher than it needs to be when it comes to our wives or significant others. Most of us already are forgetful, unromantic – though well-meaning – schlubs who want our lady to be happy; it’s just that we don’t plan that well.
Andy is different.
Whereas someone like me might buy my wife a Hallmark card at Target and perhaps a nice bracelet from Drapoel and even make dinner reservations at a local restaurant, Andy wanted to make a splash on his wife, Jodi’s, 40th birthday.
Knowing the big day was looming, Andy debated about what to do. Jodi’s friends were asking if he had anything planned and he “started to feel the pressure.” Perhaps proving that romanticism is hereditary – or at least a learned behavior – Andy pointed out that when his dad asked his mom for her hand in marriage, he did it by purchasing a full-page ad in the newspaper.
“They still have it framed,” Andy said.
So, cementing his title as Hollister’s “Mr. Romantic,” Andy woke in the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday and placed 500 11-by-19 pink posters along his wife’s commute route from the Oak Creek subdivision off Enterprise Road to Jodi’s parents’ house in San Juan Bautista, where she teaches swimming lessons each summer.
Starting in his driveway and continuing along Union Road and on to Hwy. 156, Andy put the pink and white “Happy Birthday Jodi” signs up for all – particularly Jodi – to see.
His goal? “To do little things to make a big impact,” he said.
“It doesn’t take a lot of effort or money to do that,” Andy noted, seemingly quoting from some “How to score points with your wife and make other husbands look foolish” book.
“I am trying to do something that’ll help her realize that I’m thinking about her,” he said. This is from a guy who has been married to Jodi for 18 years and with her for 20 years in all. That’s impressive. Coincidentally, my wife and I have been a couple for 20 years and married for 17. I’m thinking I may need to rent a billboard or hire a plane to pull a birthday banner next year.
Jodi threw a surprise party for Andy when he turned 40 earlier this year, so he figured she’d be expecting something similar. When Jodi turned 30, Andy organized a surprise party and presented her with a memory book that all of the guests put together page-by-page.
This guy should have a segment on Oprah’s show.
“I really haven’t done any surprises since then,” Andy said. “It’s been the typical birthday stuff: flowers, the little things, little gifts here and there. It’s a struggle. You’re married for 18 years and you’ve got birthdays, Mother’s Day, Christmas. It gets hard to be creative, so you do anything to think outside the box.”
Andy’s goal, he said, was to do something that not only Jodi would see, but others would as well. That would create a buzz among her friends and make the surprise that much more impactful. Genius!
“Something like this takes a little while to soak in, so I’m hoping she’ll hear about it from her friends,” Andy said. “It’ll build long-term goodwill.”
No kidding. And it won’t hurt in the short term either.
Andy researched sign deals across the U.S. and found a good deal in San Jose. He also contacted McKinnon Lumber to get some stakes on which to put the signs that he didn’t staple to poles or trees. On top of all that, he planned to put some signs along the fence at Rancho San Justo School that afternoon so Jodi would see them during their sons’ flag football game.
Ahead of his clever plot, Andy figured Jodi would see the signs as soon as she left the driveway, or maybe not, and “she may think it’s cute at first.” As she continued on her journey, she’d see more and more of the signs, and the gesture would unfold as the ride continued.
“I’m hoping she’ll be blown away,” Andy said. “That’s the reaction I’m hoping for.”
I’m leaving the story here, as my deadline arrived before I had a chance to speak with Andy and Jodi about the impact of the birthday signs. Plus, all you romantics out there can write your own ending.
In the meantime, I want to remind my wife just how important she is to me and also remind her that this newspaper reaches more than 17,000 homes and is available on the World Wide Web, so my message will be seen by way more people than Andy’s birthday signs. Watch out Mr. Romantic, you’ve got a contender for your crown.
Adam Breen writes a blog at http://thebreenblog.blogspot.com and teaches newspaper and yearbook classes at San Benito High School. He is a reporter for The Pinnacle and is former editor of the Free Lance.
