Last Thursday I starting letting the word out among numerous members -- Surprise birthday party for Snickers, Tuesday, July 23rd. By Friday, talk about the party was gaining interest among members and then Saturday I sent out two massive emails, one in Korean and one in English.
Snickers has never had a surprise party or even a birthday party for that matter so I wanted to make this year's birthday extra special for him. He's definitely deserving of it and I was sure the expected turnout of friends would touch a sweet spot on him. Leading up to the party today however, wow, that was a bit stressful.
I couldn't get a hold of a friend others suggested was going to bail and she had some of the main party supplies.
Snickers father showed up out of the blue and then stuck around for well over an hour. It'd be one thing if it were mid day but it was close to party time and he and Snickers sat outside talking. I was sure my balloon man showing up and friends sneaking in the back door would be discovered.
The friend showed up, Snickers' father left, and I walked into the side door room and it was bombarded with friends all waiting for the golden minute to arrive -- 9:30pm. We had it all down, a solid game plan.
9pm -- balloons would be delievered
9:10pm -- friend would sneak into the back room to start arranging food and direct the others
9:15pm -- other friends would come to prep their food items
9:30pm -- I'd turn off the lights, leaving the green runners and Hulk's halo light on, I'd call Snickers to the front juice bar and all those in the back would step out with the food and cakes. Everyone else in the club would join them in singing Happy Birthday.
That was the plan. It was a pretty solid one but we found a couple of minor glitches -- the back room was quick to turn into a sauna room, making the 15min+ wait grueling, the candles didn't seem to light so we sang Happy Birthday twice.
No worries... it's always the thought that counts and he loved it. He definitely wasn't expecting it.
What I wasn't expecting however was the lack of Korean members who showed up and those that did show up but wanted Snickers to train them. "Ummm, no!" I told them. "I've been telling you since Thursday that we're having a party. He is not training you during his party, that's nonsense" I told them. Leave it to Snickers though to be super sweet and train some of them. I struggled with seriously wanting to upper cut them but instead stuck to just leaving my comments among my friends. I suspect some uncomfortable confrontations tomorrow when I call a few of them out on their lack of manners tonight... because you SO know that's exactly the person I am. I may not be super sweat but I am honest. This really got to me tonight and I found it rather distracting. I think it all comes down to my own expectations. I do have high expectations of those in my life, I know that, I also have super high expectations for myself too. I heard a quote the other day about this and it read, "Sometimes we expect more from others because we would be willing to do that much for them", and I think this hit the situation right on the head for me; it's so true.
Back when I snuck into the back room to check on my friends' prepping away, I was so shocked at how many of them there were. Even WOW Motors was there with his sons! I jumped up and down and was totally giggly -- definitely flattered. It felt so good to see them all and though I knew they were sweating their brains off it was so great to have them here sharing in this event. I really appreciated all their hard work and it was such a great surprise for Snickers. His birthday party didn't last long but it was filled with fun friends who all by their presence made it known that my husband, their coach and friend, mattered to them enough to come celebrate his birthday. That's what really made the event so great.
I hadn't invited all our members actually because there are many members who have been MIA and I really didn't care to make this an event filled with excuses why they haven't trained. Plus, everyone has an excuse and my excuse is that I'm sick of excuses. It wasn't an event about them or their excuses, it was about Snickers and his birthday.
I just wanted tonight to be all about Snickers and I think it was. He tries so hard to be a good coach -- always reading up on different exercises, watching YouTube videos about different clubs' training methodology and always meeting up with other boxing club owners/coaches to pick their brains -- so it was so sweet for many of our members to stop by and wish him a happy birthday. He really is all about them but it was nice to make one day just about him for once.
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