The Clara Bowls Fresh Out The Gutter

I was really hoping there would happen to be one of the many Taylor Swift dance parties on the weekend of my birthday. I kept checking LePetite Fete's website but nothing in the area was planned; so I switched gears (metaphorically speaking because I still can't drive a stick). I wanted to do something instead of just a dinner, which is when I remembered Primrose Lanes, formerly Colonial Lanes of my youth and before my existence entirely. Alyssa, Nicole, and I met up there back in January for lunch, and it was SO CUTE, plus the food was great. It was great the second time around too. I'm gonna have to drag Dustin back for the fries and Coke float alone. I already knew the vibes were right and we didn't have to location hop. One stop shop for fun and food. 

I like to give everyone ample time to decide if they want to/can come to my birthday so I sent out the invite in April. Plenty of time to plan ahead! I was thinking of getting the party started at my usually elderly dinner time of 4 p.m., but when Katie found out she had a funeral an hour away at the same time, I adjusted it as best I could given what was available. In the meantime, I contacted Primrose (shoutout to Jason for all your help) and booked our bowling reservation. I wasn't expecting everyone to make it because life throws last minute shit at us all. I GET IT. Plus some weren't exactly thrilled about the bowling activity. So I just reserved two lanes for a total of 10 spots. I was just planning on booking another lane once we arrived. I was honestly shocked and extremely overjoyed when every single person made it. Like OK fam! I see yinz literally showing up for me. We worked it out so that Erin and I shared a turn and Val and Anna did too. However, I wish the employees would have given us a crash course in their bowling system because we were all kinds of confused when selecting which game to play. Um yinz don't have that regular ol' OG bowling? Ok boomer.

I wanted to sprinkle some Taylor into my day so I thought it would be fun and funny to come up with bowling puns for everyone instead of all of our regular boring names. Ha! I wrote them all on a little piece of paper, put them into a bag, and had everyone grab a random one to see which lane they'd be in. Of course my non-Swifties (about half of the group) were very confused, but I appreciate everyone just going with the flow. I don't mean to scare them, and any non-Swiftie reading this, but Erin was a Taylor-hater up until recent years - and now she's all in. It could happen to any of you. AT ANY TIME. Stay ever vigilant(e shit). 

 

   

    

    

I am not some avid bowler. I honestly don't think I've been in over a decade. But like anything, if you just go for the fun of it, it usually turns out to be a super fun experience. I think I might have knocked over 5 pins TOTAL the entire time and yet I had a fucking blast laughing at myself trying new techniques; there was the ever popular granny-style and then my new favorite slowest-roll-of-all-time aka the 'slow your roll' wherein I legitimately thought the ball wouldn't even make it to the pins and an employee would have to go rescue it for me. HA! But most everyone was pretty damn good at bowling. I saw my little leftie Erin when she got that strike and I accidentally was recording the wrong direction - oops. Then I noticed Val with her perfect curtsy bowling stance like this is just old hat for her. Then comes in Antonia who is basically America's Next Top Bowler because she blew us all out of the water. Not only did she get the best score but she had a 20 point lead over the next best score. If I don't see her in the Summer Olympics I'm going to riot. (I just looked up if bowling was even in the Olympics because I don't remember seeing it on TV and turns out it was only ever played once at the 1988 summer games. WHAT THE HELL. Five main reasons it is not an olympic sport. Well, if any of us are going to get it back into Olympics and win a medal it's my girl Antonia.)

   

 

 

 

It was a true mad-house but kind of in the best way, trying to talk to everyone, especially those I don't see quite as often, and of course bowling. I was frantically running all over the place trying to make sure I introduced everyone to anyone they hadn't met before. I always want everyone to feel included the whole time. Nobody left behind out. Not to dive too much into my psyche, but being an empath with occasional empathetic distress syndrome and emotional hyper-vigilance can really put a damper on any social events I attend, but especially ones I have planned. It's exhausting to be me which is probably why I'm in bed by 8 p.m. every night. I focus too much on others emotions rather than my own in these cases. I internally freak out if I see someone standing alone, or if someone isn't involved in the conversation, OR OR OR and so on. Therapy has taught me I am not responsible for anyone but myself and I can't police others emotions. I know this, but as with any human, I am a work in progress. 

   

 

Before I even knew it the bowling portion of my party was over and we were all left racking our balls and returning our shoes. Kaycee suggested we all do a mirror shot circa 2005 Myspace Tom because the lighting was so good near the restrooms. So we gathered the calvary and did just that before going to sit down.  

The restaurant side of Primrose was completely empty so we had plenty of room to spread out. There was a line of gift bags behind me that I started to frantically open. I felt the need to rush through because once again I was worried about how others felt. I assumed people thought this part was boring or whatever. But then one of you lovely ladies, I do not remember who, told me to slow down in the kindest way and reassured me that they weren't in a hurry. So thank you to whomever said that because it helped me relax and stay present (which is my word of 2024 by the way) in my own moment, in my own feelings. I love my friends so much but goddamn do I struggle when all eyes are on me. Maybe because I don't think I'm entertaining enough and don't want to waste their precious time. Maybe it's time I explore that more in therapy. 

 

   

     

 

 

Thank you all so much for the incredible gifts. I remember Antonia saying it the year prior and Anna said it this time,  "You're so easy to shop for!", and let me tell you I take that as such a compliment. Thank you all for SEEING me and supporting my weird little interests of reading, fun earrings, cat mom, plant lady, Sims player, top tier Swiftie, and sticker collector. Not only do I love the gifts but I love thinking of each of yinz when I see one of them. 

Thank you Val for taking candid photos and videos of me! I really really appreciate it. My priority is always the quality time with my friends and enjoying the experience, so I tend to forget to even ask. Thank you for just doing it. Thank you for helping me so I can remember this moment Long Live style. You're a real one.

Thank you Katie for driving all the way out to Orlando just to have to turn around to go to a funeral in Palm Coast. I know that was a long ass emotionally exhausting day for you. I'm just so thankful it all worked out and you could attend both events. But more than anything, finally seeing you live and in action in that wrist-guard was birthday present enough. 

Thank you Erin for flying all the way from Texas to spend my birthday with me even if you did originally think it was for my 40th. 😜 This was the first birthday she's been able attend since she moved to Texas back in 2013, which is probably why she was so nervous to meet all of my friends. Of course she knew Katie (the 3 of us used to hang out often when Katie and I were in college and Erin and I worked together back in the day), Val (she was BFFs with her cousin growing up), and Anna (they went to the same high school and had the same bus stop - small world alert) - everyone else was brand new. But what tickled me pink was when we were sitting on my couch and she asked me to tell her something about EACH one of yinz. I'd show her a picture and rattle off a name, age, brief how-we-met-story, and some of their interests, and then my boo would fucking repeat it back! She was genuinely curious and genuinely cared. Like it warmed by cold dead heart that she put in so much effort to get to know my other friends. There is a part of knowing my friends that is also knowing me and for them to be so seen meant I was also seen and that's just really important to me. 

To each and every person who drove out of their way, or had to arrange childcare, or had to rearrange their schedule in order to attend, or who maybe didn't feel like being social but showed up any way, or whatever the circumstances might have been A HUGE FUCKING THANK YOU. That time with all yinz had my cup overflowing with so much love. My only complaint about it all was that it went by too damn fast. So it goes...

As Nikki Glaser says, here's to my latest thirty. 

Thanks for the moving mems.

 

And yeah I spent too much time photoshopping us all on women bowlers of yesteryear because it was just fun. I did the same with challenging myself to recreate each of your Sim into the closest outfit and hair match that you came to my party in. Again, no point just for fun. 

I hope you all enjoy a long weekend and do something or many things just for the fucking fun of it.