Melissa’s 30th

I’ve been living a lie for the past two months. In an effort to get Melissa over to Top Hat in Old City for her surprise 30th party, I had to come up with a lavish scheme. So, I invented a character named Sebastian Fruehauf: an award-winning marketing guru from Holland that was now living in Philly and working with struggling restaurants to rebrand them.

I created a GMAIL account and had Sebastian contact me in the hopes of discussing a new web site for Front & Palmer (a site I personally thought needed a boost anyway). Located in Fishtown near our house, Front & Palmer would be a dream client for me. Through a series of GMAIL conversations, I had Sebastian find out that Melissa was a photographer, and that if he needed some professional photos taken, she would be perfect.

Of course, Sebastian was not so responsive. He was a typical busy yet ultra savvy marketing genius that barely had time to email back. But when he expressed interest in Melissa as well, I soon was on the way to setting up the meeting of 7:15 pm, Saturday, July 3rd at Top Hat.

Turns out that Sebastian’s office was located in Old City, and we made sketchy plans to meeting him “sometime at the end of June”. As the end of June approached, Sebastian turned festive and wanted us to meet him for a drink instead. I figured Gigi Lounge, right next to Top Hat, would be ideal. We had a few date changes, but July 3rd got nailed down.

On meeting day / surprise party day, Melissa insisted we walk from Fishtown to Old City. I thought this was odd, since it was so hot, but I made sure we had plenty of time. We decided to cut through the Piazza in Northern Liberties, but a massive concert event slowed us down immensely, and we had to jog around a lot of crowds.

In Old City, amazingly, I realized that we had gotten there too early. Melissa’s friends were still inside Top Hat setting up decorations. So, I faked a semi nervous breakdown and sat on a bench a block away, saying that I needed to get a breather. Finally, I was able to text my buddy Rich the words “5 min” and we headed to Top Hat.

I had explained to Melissa that we weren’t going to Gigi Lounge anymore, and that Sebastian had changed the destination to some other place near Gigi, but I couldn’t remember which one. I walked up the steps of Top Hat and Melissa reluctantly followed. She questioned if we were at the right place. I don’t know, I said. She seemed really agitated with me at this point and I eventually got her to the top doorway where she was afraid to walk through. With both hands at her back, I pushed her in.

Paulette, Melissa, and Allyson

Jonathan of Slingluff Gallery and my Dad.

Dave, Brandi, Alison, Jen, and Jenn

Marc, Brian, and Missy

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