The Road to 40 Day 88/365: “Dress Up as Che” Birthday Dinner

I had a dinner planned out for Che for the past couple of weeks just so everyone can get ready for it, and I guess we kinda pulled it off last night.

Heading into Che’s birthday, I knew that she wouldn’t be able to take a birthday leave because of everything that she’s been doing lately. So I reached out to her sisters for an idea of a themed birthday dinner. They happily obliged with my request, as they dug through their closets and Shopee’d their way to make it happen.

She wasn’t in the best of moods about the dinner though. The night before, we talked about where we should eat so Vino and I could make a reservation. She suggested Wolfgang and I knew for a fact that at least three of us weren’t going to be dressed up for that place.

When put in the spot, the idiot in me shot down the idea by saying I didn’t want to dress up for dinner because I packed clothes already. What I should have said was that I wanted to pay for dinner, and I probably won’t have enough allowance for the month if we all went to Wolfgang.

I had to salvage the dinner for her at least, so I promised that Vino and I will make a reservation.

Vino woke up surprisingly early. He asked Che to sleep with Waddles (the penguin plushy he gave her the day before) and he got up to hand it over to her so that she can bring it to the office. I thought he’d go back to bed, but he got up already.

He was very excited to be able to play 99 Nights in the Forest early with me, so I dropped everything first so we can play after he ate breakfast. Later, we walked across the street to reserve Nikkei Nama for our dinner. I even convinced him to get a haircut.

He is very resistant to cutting his hair. When I asked him the other day, he said he wanted to beat the world record for longest hair for a guy. Of course, I don’t think that’s the case. I guess it’s his style and doesn’t really want to change it.

The problem is, it sometimes covers his eyes already. His school is not strict when it comes to hairstyles, but sometimes it looks too much of a mess that I’m the one who says he should cut it.

This time around, I convinced him because it’s a nice surprise for Che, and his school is starting on Monday. I believe I made the right decision by cutting his hair, because look at that face:

We went back to the hotel to wait for Che and dinner. The sisters were on their way as well, but they had to navigate traffic a bit.

I couldn’t tell if Che was surprised or not. Maybe she had a sense something was up, but she admitted that she was almost not in the mood for dinner already. I believe she was happy to see her family with us, though.

Once the other sisters arrived, I revealed why we were wearing familiar but kinda weird outfits.

The theme was different eras of Che. Everyone wore something that represented a point in Che’s life through fashion. Vino started off with the jologs theme of jean shorts and faded shirt. Verge and Grae went hoodie with the UST days. Elle and Kaloi went sando (though Kaloi had a jacket on) and abubots plus scarf for Che’s accessory-filled past. Chiro represented her ukay days with the checkered polo that Che recognized. I went with the mountaineer look. Tia showed up as Che’s girly side she embraced more in SG. Ten went with athletic/volleyball get-up. Angge closed it off with Che’s current badass corpo girl fashion.

I wrote a little something for everyone to say about what they’re wearing, and judging by Che’s reaction, I guess we successfully managed to make her day.

Like her fashion, Che has changed a lot over the years, but she’s still every bit of the person she was back then. Though her appearances are different, she’s always been the happy, cheerful, yet fierce and determined strong woman that she’s always been. I’m blessed to have spent more than half my life knowing her, and through these years, the core being of her as a good person always remained.

Her sisters and their husbands dressing up for this occasion and driving all the way to BGC is a testament to the lengths they would go to show their love and appreciation for her, and I’m thankful that they grew to be these kinds of people.

Since it was a weekday, we didn’t keep them for too long and said our goodbyes after dinner. Back in the hotel, Che went back to work after a toilet break.

Elle and Kaloi gave her some goodies as well, and she was able to cut some mangoes as a snack while she worked and gave some to Vino as well. 

She finally called it a night at 12:04am.

This is probably the busiest she’s been at work, and we’re counting down the days to when it ends on the 29th. Hopefully, she can get a bit of a break when we’re back in SG.

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