Friday, April 13, 2012

Party Foul

I need to the tell the story the boy's birthday party before too much time passes. As I mentioned last Saturday, we could not have had a better time. The party which was Adam's 6th and Alex's 2nd was held at Gattman Park under a perfect sky with temps in the low 70's. The park was deserted except for the boy's friends from school and church. The funny comes from what was going on just a few feet away from where Adam was busy having a birthday blast.

It started with a text the night before from coach saying that a make up practice was going to be held at 9:00 the next morning at Gattman Park. We politely sent word that Adam wouldn't be able to attend never realizing the confusion that was about to be created. So there we go strolling into the park at 9:30 with plenty of time to get the decorations up when Adam shouts "HEY THERE"S MY TEAM!! WE ARE PLAYING BASEBALL TODAY!!"

What followed next was a series of questions from a very confused child followed by several awkward answers from two parents trying to handle a delicate situation.
"I thought I was having a party?''
"Um you are...."
"That's my team. I have a game first?"
"No....you are having a party."
"My team is coming to my party?"
"Well I guess if they want to. You don't really know any of them that well yet and all your friends from school and church were invited. That's like 30 kids that might show up."
"Sooooo I don't get to play with my team?"
"No but you get to have a birthday party!!"

Thankfully Adam got the idea after a few minutes and things were fine again until we stepped out of the van....."Adam we're over here!! We got your uniform! You're late, grab your bat."

Mandy flashed me a look that said "DEFCON 5 Emergency Maneuvers Must Be Taken!!" She grabbed the kids and rushed off to start decorating while I jetted in the other direction to have a few very awkward words with the coach who was standing on the pitchers mound. All the while praying silently that I would find the words to explain how we were not only skipping practice, but that a mere 50 feet away we would be having an amazing birthday party in which no one besides Adam's best friend Max who was currently playing first base was invited to; including might I add said coach's son.

"Hey I know you are in the middle of practice and I hate to catch you off guard here, but Adam's um...well that's his birthday party over there. Um....he didn't really know anyone on the team....I guess you guys could come by after....the odds of you picking this field out of the 100 around here are just mind blowing...um so yeah I guess...anyway that's why we are here..but we really aren't here....we're over there."

I remember Coach smiling and nodding his head, but for the life of me I was too embarrassed and so desperate to get out of there that I have no idea what he said. It must have been said with understanding because he did pop over for a few minutes after to deliver Adam's uniform.

1 comment:

The Father of Five said...

Cute story! What are the odds, eh?

As a "been there, done that" parent - I wouldn't worry too much... It's not the first nor will it be the last b-day party that some kids are invited and others are not. It's the nature of the game.

In all likelihood, the coach may have been in the same position himself - when HIS son did not invite all the kids from his team (his dad's team) to his birthday party.

Sounds like you did a good job being honest (major lesson for the kiddos there!) and upfront with it.

As a "reasonable adult" I know I always appreciate that!