I Want To Be There To Console The OTHER Fools

Remember last year when the new girl in Amanda's class came to school with handwritten birthday invitations?  If you've forgotten this one, here it is again from May 12th of last year:

Amanda got a new girl in class two weeks ago and when I walked the kids to school on Thursday, she was handing out handwritten party invitations for her birthday party on Saturday at 2pm.  Since I was on the playground, I took the invitation from her directly and told her I was certain we could come.

Then Amanda proceeded to walk with her as she continued handing them out to every single child in her classroom.

If you think you know where this story is heading, you are CORRECT.

I had to work this morning, but I was done before 2pm and I got Amanda ready and we picked out gifts from my Target gift closet.  I had Googled the house on Thursday and looked at it online and it was this humongous 7000 square foot house on a half acre, with a pool, so I deemed it was not gross and we could go there.  So I packed a swim suit and towel for Amanda, just in case it was a pool party and we drove over.  The child had not included a number on the handwritten invitation so I didn't have a way to call and make sure.

We were late, so I was afraid the festivities had already started, so imagine the dread I felt when I pulled up and nobody was there.  It's like the most horrible thing ever to have a party and nobody comes.  In a split second I realized that this poor, poor, poor, poor child had nobody at her birthday party.   THE HORROR.

So we rang the bell and The Birthday Girl ran to the door and invited Amanda in and I introduced myself to the parents.  I think they are Thai, but I don't know that for sure.  I explained to the mom that I had three more at home and I could go get them if she wanted because they weren't doing anything.  I could see behind me the fixings for a gigantic party and I just felt SO BAD.

The mother smiled and nodded at me and I think she said, "That sounds great." but I can't be sure now.

The house was just unbelievable inside.  It had 20 foot tall ceilings and the whole thing was done in a black lacquer Asian theme and there were huge paintings and a giant flat screen TV in the great room.  Given the fact my home is done in Early Daycare, I was impressed.

I zoomed home and told the other kids to get their suits on and drove back.

When we pulled up, Gregory said, "This house is way nicer than ours."

"Yes.  Yes, it is."

We rang the bell and nobody answered.  I rang it again and nobody answered.  It dawned on me at that exact moment that I had left my child in a house with strangers.  So we walked around to the side gate and went in the backyard and Amanda and the Birthday Girl were in the backyard with an unidentified man who was grilling a huge spread of food.

So I smiled and started talking and I realized he didn't speak English, so the kids jumped in the pool and I pulled up a chair.

For the next hour, I watched the five kids swim, while the parents and the other man ran in and out of the house.  They were assembling food and cooking food and laying out utensils and stuff.  They motioned me over to giant tubs of soda and beer and then motioned me to a table of chips and appetizers.

The Man started giving the kids grilled chicken on a stick, like you get at a Chinese buffet and Austin shoveled like 15 in his mouth.

When all the kids got cold, they started playing ping pong on the back porch.  The Dad had come out on the back porch and he offered me barbecued ribs.  Then he took a picture of the kids and started typing on his phone and I thought, 'How cute.  He's facebooking the party.'

But the whole thing was SO WEIRD, and I had no idea what was going on, so I just went with it.  I didn't know if there was some sort of cultural difference in hospitality, or what. I figured I'd put in 2 hours and get out of there. It was so weird that I had been outside, alone, for so long with the kids.

Then I turned to the Birthday Girl and asked, "Are you having a nice birthday?  How old are you today?"

The father looked at me and in perfect English, he said, "Today is not her birthday.  It's HER MOTHER'S BIRTHDAY.  It starts at 5pm"

Then I died.

If I'm ever not dead, I'll let you know.  At that exact moment, I tried to find an escape hatch or a Star Trek transporter to get me out of there.

I may never get over this one.  I hope the mother liked the Polly Pockets gift that cost $2.50 at the 75 percent off clearance sale.  I bet it's exactly what she wanted.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, LADIES!!!!

Wake me up when we live somewhere else

This year, this little girl is in Sarah's class and Sarah and the girl hang out a bit at recess.  Sarah is mostly friends with boys, so this is the only girlfriend she has.  I had the kids choose one child from school to invite to their party and I had them give their personal friend an invitation.  Literally every single person we invited to their party showed up, except Sarah's friend.

Sarah was devastated on Sunday.  Despite the fact we had 35 kids at the party, Sarah was so upset that her personal invitation was rebuffed.  She got a diary for her birthday and she wrote a big, long, mean entry about how hurt she was over being stood up by her friend.  I don't plan on reading my kids' diaries, but Sarah tore out the entry and left it laying on the ground and I saw it.

So we had a long talk about it and I tried to soothe her feelings by saying we really have no idea why she didn't come and maybe they had other plans or maybe her parents wouldn't drive her?  And there's no point in being bitter about it because she had a great time anyway, right?

So, today, I was on the playground and lo and behold, this same girl was handing out invitations again.

This time "her" party is this Saturday, January 26th, at 3pm at the Adventure Dome on the Strip.

Note:  They were written by the child and there is no parental phone number on them.  She handed out about 40 of them today at school.  She invited all four of my kids.  The Adventuredome is $27.95 PER PERSON.

So let's take bets on how this is going to turn out.  I'd normally just throw it out and blow it off, but I'm thinking the sheer entertainment is worth the $110 I'll have to pay to get my four in when we show up there and there is no party.

I just want to be there when the OTHER fools show up, ya know?