You Would Cry Too
It’s my party, and I’ll cry if I want to
Cry if I want to, cry if I want to
You would cry too if it happened to you
My daughter Olivia always cries on her birthday. Something always goes wrong, and she cries. She hates her birthday. Each year she hopes it will be better.
The following is a true story:
May 28, 2016 10:35 pm
The birthday girl to the police officer —
Yes, I’m fine. I‘m just not feeling all that well. That’s all. I was at the beach with my friends celebrating my birthday. We were playing games, you know. Playing games, talking and you know, just hanging. And then we went to get some dinner. No, I left my car at home and took an Uber around 12:30 this afternoon to meet my friends at the beach.
No, please, I want to go home. Please. What did I do? No, but what did I do wrong? I didn’t do anything. I’m okay. My Uber’s almost here. I just want to go home. No, please. I don’t want to get in the van. Please, please uncuff me. I don’t feel well. Please. No. No. Please!! Where are they going to take me? My mom is going to be really worried if I don’t call her to say goodnight. I always call her and let her know I’m home. Can you call her? No, I don’t want to go there! Please, let her come to get me. No, please don’t take me anywhere… I can’t… please… I can’t… I just want to go home… please stop the van and let me out.. please I didn’t do anything… I’m going to be sick again…
It’s my party, and I’ll cry if I want to
Cry if I want to, cry if I want to
You would cry too if it happened to you
Where am I? I’m scared. I can’t breathe. I need to go home. How will my mom know where I am to come and get me? I feel like I can’t breathe… please, I can’t breathe…please help me…help me…
May 28, 2016 11:01 pm
The mom answers her phone —
Hi sweetie! Did you have a good time today? Sorry it wasn’t beach weather. Hello? Yes, I’m Olivia’s mother. What? Is she all right? A sobering center? Why? What happened? Lying on the sidewalk passed out on a busy street? That’s not possible. No one was with her? How could that be? She was at the beach with friends all day celebrating her birthday. Are you sure she was all alone? That doesn’t make sense. Her friends wouldn’t leave without her. He wouldn’t give his name? A coworker but didn’t say anything else? But she hardly drinks. I mean two or three beers but that’s it. And she has a weak stomach. She told me this morning she wasn’t feeling well. Probably our dinner last night. Is that her sobbing? Can’t I pick her up now? Where is this place you’re taking her? Please let me talk to her. She’s going to be so scared. Please let me come now. But you haven’t given me the address. Do you have the phone number? Please tell Olivia I love her. What if someone doesn’t call? How will I find her? What is your name? Officer?
While waiting to hear from the sobering center, I consumed a bottle of wine, and spoke with my daughter Amy on the phone and by text
May 29, 2016 3:25 am
The mom to the police station —
Hello, I’m calling because someone by the name of Officer Hitchcock called me at 11 o’clock to tell me that my daughter was passed out on the sidewalk in Pacific Beach on Mission Boulevard and that couldn’t be true because she never drinks that much and do you have an Officer Hitchcock there because I started thinking that maybe it wasn’t an officer at all and someone just took my daughter because it’s been four and a half hours later now and he said someone would call me from the sobering center after three and a half hours and no one’s called me and I don’t have the address or phone number and someone was supposed to call me and I’ve been waiting and I’m so anxious!
No one was supposed to call me? What do you mean they don’t do that? Well, that’s just wonderful. How was I supposed to know where to find her? Okay. Okay. So I can just go over there and pick her up? Okay, I guess I will have to take an Uber because I’ve had a bottle of wine ever since I got that call from that Officer Hitchcock.
May 29, 2016 4:36 am
The birthday girl’s truth —
I took my daughter home in the Uber, and her story was very different than what I was told on the phone by the police officer. She had a great day. Seven or eight coworkers joined her in Pacific Beach for the afternoon. They drank some beer, played a few different games and talked. At around 6 pm they walked over to The Local, a restaurant in Pacific Beach, where they sat at a table and had dinner and some more beer. They then walked a few more blocks to a local bar, each had a shot of Fireball whisky to cheer the birthday girl. No one acted out of control. They stayed awhile and then said their goodbyes. After walking out of the bar with two friends, my daughter wasn’t feeling well but realized she would be unable to make it back to the restaurant. She leaned over the curb and threw up. It was then that the police officer came over to her and asked if she was all right and told her he was taking her to the sobering center to sleep it off. She never passed out. She was very frightened. She didn’t think she had done anything wrong. She didn’t think she drank too much for a whole day and night (almost twelve hours) — three beers and one shot. She thinks it must have been from mixing hard alcohol with beer. She didn’t feel that bad except for her broken foot, bleeding knees and bad stomach. She turned her ankle walking down the steps of the van because her hands were cuffed behind her back. The whole thing was like a Twilight Zone episode. She is terribly sorry and has learned an invaluable lesson.
Lesson: Don’t drink on your birthday in a beach town on a holiday weekend.
It’s my party, and I’ll cry if I want to
Cry if I want to, cry if I want to
You would cry too if it happened to you
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