On March 26, 1980 Ryan Delaus Paine was born.
On March 13, 2020 we were able to celebrate 40 years of Ryan Paine!
Luckily, right before the COVID-19 virus caused San Francisco to Shelter In Place and group gathers over 5 people or more were banned...we were able to gather with about 20 of our wonderful friends to celebrate. In spite of travel restrictions and rising concerns of contagion, our great friends came from out of state, across the state and some even made the trip all the way from "the far off land" known as Oakland!!
Way back in December, some friends had asked me how we were going to celebrate Ryan's big 4-0. A few conversations at the Christmas party lead to the beginning of the plan to surprise Ryan with a fancy party with his friends from near and far. Throughout the last 3 months, I have had to lie, sneak and hide several aspects of the party planning process. From, hiding text messages and sneaking out to the liquor store during my lunch break to turning off Google Location sharing on our phones, our friends and I were able to pull off THE BIG SURPRISE.
I think this link will work to see the video of his surprise.
I rented out the Maverick's House in Half Moon Bay, CA for the event. Their staff was wonderful and extremely helpful. When I told them this was for a surprise party they got almost excited as we were. They helped me pick out a fantastic menu with insanely good apps. I mean, as soon as they said "bacon wrapped..." I knew Ryan would be pleased. We started with clam chowder, had the choice of tri-tip steaks, ma-hi ma-hi fish or linguine and prawns and then finished the night with the s'more bar. (I had to through in a little something for me!)
The event coordinator and staff set up the catering and the bar tender. The friends provided the love and entertainment. Our Asian son, Peter Mai, volunteered to be our DJ. Peter Mai gathered information on a few of Ryan's favorite songs/bands and then worked his musical magic and mixed some amazing tracks. Throughout the night, he taught a few lessons and kept everyone dancing.
Anyone who knows Ryan knows that he is not a Birthday Cake type of guy. So instead, we had pie! And...his favorite dessert wine, a port (A Twenty Year Tawny) After he blew out his candles, Ryan gave a lovely toast thanking everyone for coming to celebrate with him. We toasted those friends who could not come because of health and travel restrictions and he was extremely grateful for everyone who wanted to come and were celebrating with us from afar.
Thankfully though, some of Ryan's oldest friends were able to come. Jason Rios and his awesome wife Chelsea came up from San Diego. Along with Pops and his lovely wife Lucia. Jason and Pops have been Ryan's best friends since 1st grade. It was great to have them here.
We were also able to import Mike and Jenny all the way from the Frozen North. It did not take much convincing to get them to visit California and hopefully we will be able to get them back here again in May for some camping. We were able to sneak in a quick trip into the city on Saturday with our out of town friends. It was very nice to have one last trip to the brewery and some fun bars before the COVID-19 Shelter In Place took full effect.
Ryan and I have lived in San Francisco now for almost 5 years for him (4 for me). In that time we have built an amazing set of friends and we were so happy they could all come out and help celebrate his 40th birthday. I was so happy to see that all of the people from all of the different circles and phases of Ryan's life could come together and have such a good time. I knew it would happen but it was still awesome to see. A special shout out to my work wife, Marcela, for all of her help in keeping me sane during the planning phases and for helping to set everything up the day of!
At the party Friday night though, after the pie and port, we headed outside onto the deck for fireside s'mores and fun!
A wonderful evening was had by all and we are so happy to have been able to celebrate the 40th Birthday of my awesome guy!