The Birthday That Wasn't

The Birthday That Wasn’t
I’m glad that I’ve had two weeks to think about what I’m going to write about Hayden’s birthday party. When I read my last post earlier, I remembered the excitement and anticipation I had. I still get tears in my eyes thinking about that horrible weekend.
Well, I guess that’s harsh. I wouldn’t call it horrible, my baby girl did turn one year old and I did celebrate my five year anniversary with my husband- but it wasn’t the way it was supposed to be.
I had booked Stepping Stones Museum for Hayden’s party about six months ago. I’ve always had a lot of anxiety about her birthday because of weather. I got married in March and my father had threatened to kill me. We had wedding guests flying in from Canada, Italy, California, Michigan, and Arizona, he was convinced they would never arrive because there would be some kind of snow storm that would prevent air travel. He was almost right. The day before our wedding, we had six inches of snow. I know it took every ounce of his being not to kill me that day. Luckily, the guests did arrive, and my actual wedding day was a beautiful 50 degree sunny day. My pictures are gorgeous with the sunshine and snow in the background. I didn’t get so lucky with Hayden’s birthday party.
I specifically booked Stepping Stones because I figured where else would I put 150 people, especially if it rains or snows? Perfect answer. The theme of the party was cupcakes. My cousin came over bright and early Friday morning and we began baking. We baked 500 cupcakes. All sizes. All flavors. My sister flew in from California and we spent six hours frosting on Saturday. Sure, I knew the weather was bad out. Sure, I had heard about all the power outages. I wasn’t worried though. It’s a huge museum on a major road- The party would go on. Anyway, there was an actual “Act of God” clause in our contract. I laughed at it. Act of God? Really?! Really. My sister wasn’t so optimistic. I should have listened to her. All my aunts baked. They baked a lot. That’s what Italians do. We braved the weather and headed to Costco and purchased tons of beer, appetizer food, drinks. We passed out in exhaustion on Saturday night excited for the next day. The “Cake Boss” cake had been picked up (a giant cupcake), the clown and his 50 balloon animals were all set, and Hayden’s hand made (and I designed!) etsy.com dress hung on the hanger. My father (he’s the chef and owner of Via Sforza in Westport) had all the food prepped (and he went all out for his only granddaughter). I woke up and headed downstairs and admired all the beautifully decorated cupcakes. I made floral centerpieces that looked like cupcakes (they were pretty cute, you can call me Martha Stewart from now on) and they were blooming. 9 a.m. Phone rings. My heart sank. I breathed a sigh of relief that it was my mom. She wanted to make sure everything was still on- I told her yes and she seemed happy even though she hadn’t had power in 24 hours. I hung up and the phone rang again, I answered it quickly thinking it was my Mom again. Nope. This time it was Stepping Stones. They had no power. They may have it back by Noon. I was optimistic. I still cried. At 10 am, I couldn’t take it anymore and we packed up Hayden in the car (all of us in our pajamas) and headed over to the museum to see what was going on. As I drove down West Avenue, all the lights were working. I had hope again! Then I saw it. A major tree right in front of the museum had fallen down (huge roots and all) and took out the power lines going into the museum. My heart sank. I asked Paul if I could cry now. He said no, but I did anyway. I cried the way Hayden cries when I take toilet paper out of her hands. I sobbed.
Yet, in my delusional head, I thought maybe, just maybe, it would work out. Finally, at Noon they gave me the “no go”. With the help of a couple friends we called and told all of our guests (some coming from Jersey were already on the road) and canceled. I was a hot mess. Financially it sucked. The loss of food sucked. The cost of the rental tables and chairs sucked. Worst part? Couldn’t get a hold of Pongo the Clown. He went. Saw the sign and left. For the record, Taylor Rental of Norwalk and Pongo the Clown have been fantastic in helping me out due to the circumstances.
I feel a little like a baby for crying over my daughters canceled birthday party. I mean, people didn’t have power for a week. People were seriously injured, homes were destroyed, but I was still heart broken.
Stepping Stones finally rescheduled the party for June 13th. It’s their only available date. I was having a heart attack that it was taking so long to get a new date. So it will technically be Hayden’s 15 month Birthday party, but she doesn’t seem to be bothered. She actually seemed to have no idea what was happening all day. She thought Mommy crying was pretty funny. I’m so thankful she’s so little she doesn’t understand yet. I can only imagine the impact this would have on a five year old.
My immediate family (aunts/uncles/cousins… we tally about 35 people) showed up at my parents restaurant and Paul dragged me. I had no intention of doing anything, but I guess my Mom decided we were not going to sulk on her granddaughter’s birthday. As always, I am eternally grateful for such a huge family that will drop anything to be with me. They weren’t going to let power lines down, no electricity and area fires stop them from seeing Hayden on her first birthday. They brought their baked goods. We looked like a huge bakery. It wasn’t what I had planned, totally impromptu- but looking back, it was great. It took my mind off my tears and we still got to sing Happy Birthday to my little girl… who wore her special dress.
Paul took Monday off to take me out for our anniversary. We dropped off all the cupcakes at the housing authority in Norwalk for the less fortunate. I only ate one of those cupcakes. The thought of eating more than that literally made me sick. That day I swore off ever baking a cupcake again. Of course now that time has passed, I’m pretty sure I’ll do it again. It’s amazing the things we’ll do for the babies.
We went to Tao in the city- I guess it just wasn’t my week. Towards the end of our dinner I started feeling severely claustrophobic and we rushed out. We got in the car and I had to make Paul pull over so I could puke and then I passed out the rest of the ride home. So romantic.
So, that’s it. My sad, pathetic story. I have to go now. Hayden took all of my credit cards out of my wallet today when I wasn’t looking and hid them around the house. I still can’t find my Neiman Marcus card.