My Birthday/Quincincera

Okay, so yesterday was my big party. My goodness. Diego and his family really went out of their way last night. He must have spent a lot of money. Last night, when he drove me home, he pretty much fell asleep on my floor. :( He was out since very early in the morning, buying flowers, getting the food, setting up, etc.

The whole thing was very nice. There were pink flowers and vases full of pink carnations. There were pink ceramic figurines and balloons. There were pink table cloths and napkin settings. Diego gave me a pink tiara, a pink "little princess" septor, a pink and white Bible with an embroidered Precious Moments cover, a fairly large two tiered birthday cake with pink flowers, and ceramic refrigerator magnets as take homes for people who came.

Diego's mom cooked refried beans, rice, potato salad, crab tostadas, salsa and salad. Diego bought one hundred pieces of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, chips, and soda. There was tons of food, especially since my mom decided to cook pad see eew and fried wontons.

The only hitch was my friends showed up late, and no one else really came. Everything was supposed to start at 5pm. I got there at 6, so whatever. But when I got there, it was only Diego and his mom, my mom and grandma, Juan Carlos, and two students from Bell. Which would normally be fine in and of itself, but Diego had all these tables set up, and I think everyone was expecting a bigger turn out. Then my family left, so the party got smaller. I actually felt a little embarrassed, to be totally honest. I had this student of mine there, and she and her sister looked bored. I figured she thought I had no friends. But a lot of my good friends don't live around here anymore. Stephanie is up North. Along with Jennifer, Jen, Alex, Gabe, etc. Paul's in Detroit. Daniel went snowboarding, Eddie went to Argentina, Valerie and Susan had to work, and Amanda's dad had a heart attack, so she had to fly to Chicago last minute.

Soon, Emily and Natsuka got there (they got lost, haha), and later on Ryan and Beth stopped by. It was a little weird, because by that time, the other table was sort of engrossed in Texas Holdup. They were playing for hours. I opened presents by myself (well, with Emily and Natsuka). It just felt weird, because there were people there, but I still felt like I was alone (or just with Emily and Natsuka -- until Beth and Ryan showed up, of course). And that's another thing. I feel as though I'm always complaining. Diego thinks he can't do anything right, and that he always makes me unhappy. It's just that sometimes, a lot of things are missed. Like last night. He set up this really nice party. It took a lot of time, and money, and energy. He wanted me to have a nice time. I felt awkward that no one showed up, and then he went and played a card game for two hours. Even my mom and grandma had a comment. They said he just "dumped me" after I got there. That did make me a little sad. I mean, I had to flag down his attention to show him what I got from Emily and Natsuka. Also, my mom is also against gambling, so that wasn't good either. It was such a nice effort, but I would have rather had something much smaller with him keeping me company. That's what is important. *sigh* And I don't even want to mention this, because I feel like I can't appreciate anything. Do I have a problem? Do I expect too much? Or is this just not working? How can I say, "I wish you had spent more time with me" when he spent so much time on my party? But it's not the same thing. It shows something, but it's not the same...

I didn't dance a waltz and declined to make a speech during the cake cutting (I honestly felt nervous. I guess it was a combination of all these things). So I'm not sure about the evening. The first part was weird, there was a transition in the middle, and I was feeling much more comfortable by the end. Still, it didn't seem like a birthday "party," because it felt a bit puny. And like I said, not because people can't have small parties, but there was so much expectation for more. No one from work showed up. That sort of doesn't matter, because I don't really talk to that many people at work, but I go to their birthdays. And they said they would stop by, but didn't. For a second I was like, "what a waste of time going to their stuff, I'm never going again!" But I guess that's being stupid. People will come if they come.

I feel a little bad for Diego, because he's been planning this for a long time. I wonder how he really feels about last night. Hopefully he's still happy he planned it all out. Even though I had a good time, and it was a lovely evening, I feel like I don't want anyone to throw me another party any time soon. It was really nice. It showed so much love and caring. However, I would have had a similarly nice time with a "planned" smaller get together. That would have been much less expensive and less sad. :)

On another note, I thought that it was weird that his dad was inside watching tv the whole time. He pretty much came out when we got there, but that was it. He sort of came out at the end, but at no other time. Nina went in to tell him that my mom and grandma were leaving, but she emerged from the house alone. Hmmmm. Also, my mom is this stickler about alcohol. She doesn't like to be around people who drink, etc. Diego and his family know this, and he was trying to get his family to be as low key about it as possible. When we first got there, his dad walked out with a bottle of alcohol (I forget what kind). He straight stood there in front of my mom, pulled out a lemon, salted, it, and then took a shot. It looked purposeful to me. I was like, "whoa, okay." Then he went inside for the rest of the evening, never to reappear. I think Diego asked him not to drink. I figure that he thought this was his house and he can do whatever he wants. Which is true. No one should stop anyone from doing anything in their own homes. Just seemed a little confrontational to do it like that right in front of my mom when we got there, on my birthday, and to never reemerge again. Oh well.....family drama already, and we're not even married yet!