So I've been in the midst of planning my birthday party. I don't have a party every year, per my parent's preferences, and I had one for my seventh, twelfth, and now sixteenth birthdays. Now I'm just remembering how much planning my twelfth birthday party sucked. I would usually talk to my closest friend about my feelings about this experience, but she did something that irked me too. I told her about my party about a month in advance, before everyone else. About a week later, she tells me she'll have to leave an 3.5-hour party one hour early to go to her sport team bonding party. That actually makes me really sad, because I know a lot of people put sports before most things, but I'd thought we were legit "best friends." And that just put a short stop for me. I felt more than a little betrayed. And now the party is tomorrow. My other good friend just sent me a Facebook message telling me that she wants to come an hour late to attend a club meeting since she hasn't gone to those meetings for a few weeks. This saddens and annoys me because I feel trivialized. What happened during those few weeks that are more important than a friend's sixteenth birthday party? Sure, I'm an avid club member too, and she probably thinks I understand, but I'm having a hard time doing so. And my third friend just called me to ask about every single detail of my birthday party because she suddenly took a hiatus off Facebook without telling any of us. I called her a few days just to check in about her RSVP, and I told her the party was Saturday, and she said sure. I assumed she knew the rest because she didn't ask about anything further. I asked everyone to dress up, because I want a cheesy sixteenth birthday photo where everyone's dressed up cute. And she calls me, and in a mildly indignant tone demands if she has to dress up. I said, yes you must. I even helped her choose this one skirt I've seen her wear before to wear to the party. She was annoyed. And telling her the rest of the information felt like I was taking her lunch money or choosing the best toy out of the box first. I feel extremely trivialized and I really don't want to be getting phone calls from people begging off all through tomorrow afternoon. I have a bad feeling about this. I just want to have a happy birthday.
