Jennifer Hamilton is not on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, but that didn't stop her from enlisting strangers to give her husband surprise birthday wishes on social media.
She went to subway stations around New York City's different boroughs, taping up flyers with a picture of her smiling husband, New York Yankees television reporter Gary Hamilton. The flyers read "He's the best," and had a short message asking people to wish him a happy 32nd birthday via Instagram and Twitter. On Saturday, Gary, a former NBC page, woke up in the couple's home in Harlem to his phone buzzing with strangers' birthday wishes.
"For me the story really isn’t about strangers sending me birthday wishes from all over, it’s really about Jennifer doing something nice and showing her love for me,'' Gary told TODAY.com. "It’s so great because my wife is not on social media, therefore you have this non-social media person making a huge effort to create a social media buzz just for me. It put a huge smile on my face."
Before Gary could clear the cobwebs out of his head in the early hours of his birthday, well wishes from strangers were streaming in on Twitter.
Gary wrote on Instagram that he was "surprised and a little embarrassed, but even more thankful" for his wife.
"I’m just really thankful that people actually participated,'' Jennifer told TODAY.com. "I was really nervous and once I knew that people were responding, I was so happy and it felt so good to have everyone celebrate Gary’s birthday with me. He’s always surprising me."