After spending five months deployed in Africa, Joshua Splinter found out he was going to get to return to the United States early, and thought the perfect homecoming should involve surprising his wife.
Alice Splinter is a pediatrician, and Joshua, a family physician for the Texas Army National Guard, had a friend set up an appointment, using a fake name. When Alice entered the exam room, she expected to see a new face, but instead saw a familiar one. "It took a second for me to take it in," she told Inside Edition. "I honestly almost passed out."
While Joshua was deployed, Alice moved their family to a new town so she could start her residency. "She was really just holding everything together while I was just out, you know, having fun," he said. After he came home but before he saw his wife, Joshua made sure to pretend he was still in another time zone, afraid he might tip her off. He didn't though, and ended up pulling "a great surprise," Alice said. "I'm happy to have him home." Catherine Garcia
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.