Complete Bliss
All previous birthday disasters are now officially erased in my mind! This weekend was beyond anything I could have expected. I am so emotional about it stil that I'm sure this post won't make sense. Yet, I also feel like I have to get it all out to ensure that it really happened (thank god there are photos somewhere as proof!)
I got to Brooklyn on Friday around 7:00. Christina opens the door to her apartment and greets me! It was so good to see her. The physical distance between us is no longer an excuse for not getting together. We keep saying that we need to see each other more often. I settle in. We start chit chatting about our work week etc. Then my entire world was rocked, flipped upside down and this new path was my journey for the rest of the weekend.
Kristin (San Francisco) walks out of Christina's kitchen holding a glass of wine and says "Who wants some wine!" I FREAK OUT. I don't know how she was even able to set the wine down before I jumped her! Girls screaming and jumping and yelling. I started to think she might have been coming, and I don't know why I thought that. She was on to me so she set up her Facebook with her friends in CA to say things about their plans for the weekend. I mean she covered all angles. We settle down and start to chat and *BOOM* Liz (Austin, TX) walks out of the bedroom, flips a pink boa over her shoulder and says "I think I'll wear this out tonight!" HOLY SHIT. I didn't think I honestly thought I was going to faint. Liz has not been able to come home for Christmas that past TWO YEARS due to the cost and not having and vacation days! Yet she made this happen!! And as I type this and relive it all I am crying. This is insane to me, and it only grows by leaps and bounds. Liz had a camera set up recording this for video. Very funny shit.
So we go out and have our "Girl's Night". We get some Mexican food and a few pitchers of margaritta's. We talk for hours, catching up on all the little details we never get to keep up with being spread out all over the country. It felt like a Sex In The City scene, and I could not believe that it was real. The next morning Christina had to work so the three of us took our time and went to breakfast. Meanwhile, when I spoke to Aaron at 10:00 he told me that we could take our time because he was still home in Long Island and not in the city yet. He said to call him when we were going to get on the train from Brooklyn to Manhattan. So we took our time. Breakfast was no rush. Until he calls back around 12:30 and says that he is in the city and checked into the hotel, and that he'd just hang out and wait for us there. Um yeah... three woman who need to shower and get ready for a night out in the city. We were still at the diner!
So we run back to Christina's apartment and ... can not get in! The key is turning, we hear the lock swishing back and forth but the door handle will not budge. We try this for about 20 min. before I say "I don't care what the cost is, I'm calling a locksmith" He quoted me $95 and I said fine get here ASAP. Meanwhile, someone from the apartment saw that we needed help and had gotten the super to come help us out. He opened the door within seconds! Cancel locksmith. We shower and I dry my hair. Kristin goes to dry her's and the blow dryer does not work. Do the little test thing. Try every outlet in the apartment. Done. Fried dryer. I run out to find a new hair dryer. Aaron is calling, as now hours have gone by. I explain the craziness of all these obstacles jumping in our way. It's not us, we swear! Then I remember "Oh Shit!" when I took the R train in last night there were signs at the station saying that it was not running all weekend long. Since none of us are from the city we have no idea what this means but if there was no train I would have no idea what to do. Luckily, Christina happened to have called to check in on us and told us that it was not going to a few stops but that we would be fine. Phew. We needed something to be on our side at this point.
We get to Manhattan, drop the bags off at the hotel and now I am back to not knowing what is happening because Aaron is back to secret mode. We go to have a drink at the restaurant/bar under Rockefeller Center, along the ice skating rink. A few sips in, and in walks his brother Ryan and his fiance Leslie followed by our friend Sal and his wife Clarissa!! They are all in Rochester and had driven down together the night before! What? I think I can't handle any more of this shock. Seriously my head was not able to compute it all. When min. later Russ walks in!! Russ!! He is mine and Aaron's best friend from Colorado! I am shaking now. Shaking. I can't handle this. He is about to cry himself. He said that before he came in to the bar he had to pace around for a bit because he was so nervous!! We settle down and a have a drink. I find out that Aaron was actually in the city on Friday night. With all these guys!
After a light dinner (because we were told that there will be food later... oh yes this wasn't even the whole of it!) we all freshened up at the hotel and got in the cabs to go to what was next. What was next sealed the deal and I think my brain will never function the same again. We get out of the cab. We walk up to this door and inside, I know EVERYONE! The entire place. My brain hurts because I am seeing another dozen or so people and some of them also came from so far away. I see that Heather and Timpson (Colorado) are there! They came with Russ! Heather's sister who lives in the city. My college friends Beth, Chad, Steph and Darren came from NJ. Also, Meredith who lives in Brooklyn. Our friends from Long Island, Heid and Chris and Jen and Chris. Turns out that Heidi knows the owner of the place and set this all up. We had the place to ourselves! There was amazing food and honestly... I just can't even believe this all happened. None of it seems real. Every single person there had so many reasons they could have not made it - Distance (CA, CO, TX, Rochester). Planning a wedding (Ryan and Leslie and Heather and Timpson). Planning a honeymoon (Kristin). Some have kids they had to get sitters for (Beth and Chad and Chris and Jen) Not to mention Chris and Jen are now expecting twins! Yeah I would use that an an excuse! Chris and Heidi literally MOVED that day. They were so exhausted. As I mentioned, Liz hasn't even been able to get home for the holidays the past few years. It's so crazy to me and I feel so touched and so honored... I don't even know how I could possibly say THANK YOU to all these people in a way that could express just how much I mean it.
The night was crazy. Got back to the hotel at 6:00 am! I guess this made up for me falling asleep on my actual birthday at 9:00. We spent the day walking around the city yesterday and then took my girls to the airport. I feel so emotionally raw right now. I called in sick to work. On top of the sore throat and feeling so run down and exhausted, I was in no emotional state to be there. I feel like I'm never going to get over trhis. Never going to express to everyone what this meant to me. I am so lucky. I am so blessed. I can not believe any of this was true.