Quite The Let Down

“Alright Bub, time to get this party started!”

Four months postpartum, engorged, and barely able to function in society due to an exhaustion unlike anything I had previously known, I popped Addy on my hip and headed up the steep gravel driveway. Beyond the house I could hear an uproar of partygoers having a wonderful time and started to feel anxious about diving back into such a rowdy social setting. It was Memorial Day, but that wasn’t the only cause for celebration, it was also a friends’ son’s tenth birthday. As I walked into the back yard of a house I had never visited before I noticed the bounce house – an indication that I was, in fact, at the right place – and I started off on a quest to find a familiar face.

“Shh hey, it’s okay love. It’s alright. We’ll find her, she must be in the house getting the cake ready.”

Addy was starting to fuss, and I bounced her on my hip trying to soothe her as best I could on that unseasonably warm May day. Unseasonably warm doesn’t really do the weather justice. It was the type of heat that drained the energy from a person walking across the lawn to the cooler to grab another drink. I knew I needed to find some place to sit, so Addy and I went and sat in a sliver of shade under a Maple at the corner of the yard.

“Hey you! What’s up, little one? You hanging in there? It just about time for some milkies, isn’t it?”

After some time had passed, I began to realize I still hadn’t found anyone I knew. A few feet away a nice older woman made eye contact with me and smiled.

“Hey hun, how old’s the little one?”

“She’ll be four months next week!”

“I remember when my own kids were that little, seems like only yesterday I was up all hours of the night trying to quiet ‘em down. The little one had colic something awful, nearly lost my mind on that one! Some may tell you I did”

She winked.

“Ha, if that isn’t relatable I don’t know what is Ma’am. Addy isn’t too fussy so long as I am holding her. I am pretty sure I haven’t set her down once since having her to be honest.”

Just then, as if on cue, Addy began to cry. She didn’t seem to like the heat much, and truth be told three years later she still prefers snowstorms to sunshine any day.

“I should find a place to nurse her, it was so nice meeting you!”

“You too, hun. Snuggle that baby as often as you can, it goes so fast.”

It seemed too hot to try and get comfortable outside, and besides I wanted to find Sam and set down our present, I’d been carrying it around this whole time. I started wandering around the party, saying hi to people when our eyes connected but mostly keeping to myself. I am not particularly charismatic on a good day, but four months of sleep deprivation had me extra squirrely.

As I wandered around the groups of people, I noticed there were a lot of adults with only a handful of kids running around. Seemed a little strange for a kid’s birthday party, but oh well. There was also the fact that I hadn’t seen the birthday boy or his mom since I arrived over an hour ago…if I weren’t so socially awkward it bordered on being physically painful to watch, surely I would have asked around, but instead I just wandered, feeling incredibly out of place and regretting ever venturing out of my air-conditioned house that day.

I was just about to find a shady spot to nurse Addy, something I was still getting used to doing in public – though in the months to follow my inhibitions fell away entirely, it’s natural! – but in that moment, I was feeling too out of place to get comfortable. Just then, a guy walked over to me and asked if I wanted to use the basement to cool off with my little one.

I thanked him enthusiastically and set off into on an unsought explanation of how I had been looking for a place to nurse my daughter who was getting fussy because it was so hot out. The man met my ramblings with a quirky problem and told me it wasn’t a problem, so I went inside and made myself comfortable on the couch.

After about thirty minutes Addy had fallen asleep and I decided it was time to hunt down the birthday boy and his mom. When I headed back outside, I finally saw a familiar face, though it wasn’t the one I was expecting!

Across the lawn, a friend of mine was standing with her son, chatting with another guest. I hadn’t seen her in over a month, and we had a ton of catching up to do! After exchanging pleasantries and chatting for a bit, I asked her how she knew the birthday boy and his family. She stared at me for a moment like I had finally lost my mind.

“What? Which birthday boy?”

“You know, Luke, the kid whose party this is?”

“Um…this is Jack’s party…but I didn’t realize it was his birthday”

“Haha, why else would a ten year old throw a barbecue with a bounce house?”

“Jack is 35. Dude this is a Memorial Day party. Where do you think you are right now?!?”

Oh no. No…no way, there was no chance I was at the wrong party. I looked at the address on the card, I had the street right. I looked behind me, bounce house was intact. My friends must be messing with me. I looked up at her and her incredulous look said it all. Either she went to the wrong cookout, or I was not at a birthday party at all and judging by the fact that she knew everyone, and I knew no one, I was going to have to go with the latter.

I called Sam right away.

“Hey…uh, so I think I’ve been at Luke’s birthday party for like two hours…but there is also a chance I party crashed someone’s Memorial Day party. Am I at your house?”

“You’ve been there two hours?? Yeah, nope, you’re definitely not here. Did you get the address right?”

“Yup. There’s even a bounce house!”

“……Oh. My. God. Hahaha dude, I think you’re at my neighbor’s house. He throws a huge Memorial Day party each year!!”

After hanging up with Sam I turned back to my friend and told her what I had learned. She started to laugh but I interrupted her.

“Hold on, I haven’t even gotten to the best part” I said. “I spent the last half hour before finding you holed up in this guy’s basement relaxing and nursing Addy. I thought it was pretty bizarre that some random guy offered up my friend’s basement to me, but I am going to go out on a limb and say that was probably his basement, wasn’t it?”