Lemons into Lemonades

Last weekend, I had a party for my book, and it turned into quite an adventure. My mom, always honest, thought only about 10 people would show up. I love her because, despite my past failures, I don’t let her fears and doubts stop me from pursuing my goals. Instead, I turn those doubts into motivation.

Admittedly, I can be a bit too enthusiastic and sometimes set extreme goals or go over budget. Originally, I aimed for 80 people at my book signing event. I found an event guy on Craigslist and told him I needed 80 chairs, 8 tables, and 8 canopies. I agreed to a deposit over Zelle and booked another vendor for my food supply. When I say food, I mean tacos, and I paid a $50 deposit over Venmo. Initially planning for Saturday, December 16th, I changed the date to Sunday, December 10th, to accommodate my good friends Linda and Markus, who were leaving for Hawaii on Thursday, December 14th. They’re like family to me.

I called all my vendors back and heard from Jose, my party rental guy with the tables and chairs. I tried multiple times to reach my taco vendor, but with no luck, panic set in. I asked Jose if he could also provide the food service. Even though he charged the same amount for half the people, I thought going with him was a sure thing. We agreed on a set price and date, and I paid him half of the food cost.

However, since I’m no longer active in the dance scene, people don’t remember me, and I had to cut my guest list in half.

Five minutes after finalizing the deal with Jose, the original taco vendor called, apologizing for being busy at another event. Feeling regretful, I explained that I thought he was trying to scam me, so I went with a different taco vendor for Sunday, December 10th. I told him to keep the $50 deposit for his trouble and apologized. In my mind, I was afraid this would happen again with Jose. But Jose assured me this wouldn’t happen.

In the weeks leading up to the party, Jose remained in constant contact. He even suggested patio heaters per table, and on the day of the event, he confirmed my address and agreed to start cooking at noon. Some guests arrived early to help set up.

As noon approached, Jose was not here for setup, so I texted him, saying I needed to start setting up immediately as my guests would arrive by 1 pm. Shortly after, I received a text saying his food truck drivers got into an accident and were giving their witness testimony to CHP.

Long story short, Jose didn’t deliver my food and was a no-show. I thanked Diep for making a tremendous food platter, even though I initially only asked her to pick up a simple tray from the grocery store. I’m grateful for her generosity. Plus, my cousin Lydia decorated me with a three-layer cake that looked like my book.

Though we had no planned food for the party, my guests were good sports and made the best of it. I was extremely happy to play them my book speech that I had clone my voice with an AI prior to my stroke.

We even played a unique holiday gift raffle game I created called “Pirates or Shipmates.”

I drew names from a hat, and the person picked had to roll two dice. Their number determined their position in the group. For instance, if the roller landed on 12, 11 people chose gift bags ahead of them, all blindfolded. The final person flipped a coin: heads for pirates, tails for shipmates.

If they landed on heads, they got to steal any other gifts from the previous contestant in their group. If the gifts got stolen, the contestant flipped a coin until they got a shipmate, grabbing a gift. If they landed on heads, they could steal their gift back. This continued until someone flipped tail. Despite Jose not showing up, my guests had a great time, and I even got to sign some books.

We managed to turn lemons into lemonade. What could have been a disappointing situation turned into a memorable and enjoyable celebration.