The bad birthday karma

Me and birthday parties, we have a thing. And it’s not a good thing. Actually, it’s so bad, that 10 years ago, I decided to never ever organize another birthday party again, for as long as I lived. Somehow, something always happens to all my guests. They forget. Or they become sick. Or they suddenly have an increased workload. Or they are stuck in traffic. Or they get lost. Or they are too scared to drive. Or whatever.

The last year I still lived at my parents, I waited more than 3 hours for the first guests. The food was cold. P and I had started eating. Finally, 2 people showed up. The rest came when we were clearing the table, and I was on the verge of tears. I said: “Never again”.

The first year I had my own apartment, I thought: let’s try it again. Very bad idea. I sat alone, on my birthday, in my flat, until 22.30pm. Then one guest arrived. P arrived half an hour later. 20 minutes later, the party was over, as my one guest went home. I swore: never ever again.

Until this year. I know. Stupid idea. Yesterday, I had 16 confirmed guests. I couldn’t believe my luck. I thought the bad birthday karma was finally broken. I ordered food, and more food. My mom made a huge birthday cake for my party (the same she always made when I was a kid, and people still showed up at my parties). At 3 PM today everything was ready. Then the phone started ringing. One after the other, they cancelled. Because it snowed. Well hey, it happens to be winter, you know. I wonder if people in let’s say Scandinavia, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, or Canada never go to parties because they have snowy winters.

In the end, 5 people showed up (and no, they didn’t live right next door, and yes, they took their car and drove through the snow, and yes, they *miraculously* survived.) I’m very, very grateful to those few friends who didn’t let me down, who tried to fill the room, and did their best to conquer the mountains of food.

However, we are left with 19 cupcakes, 3 bottles of champagne, numerous bottles of wine and soft drinks, bags of crisps, boxes of olives, at least 5 different cheeses, three baguettes, etc, etc. And 3/4th of the huge birthday cake my mom lovingly made all by herself, and brought to me this morning (yes, 37 km through the snow).

So, you can already guess what I’m going to say now, right? Right. Never again.