Surprise Party With A Surprise Result

I am a teacher and just have come to the realization that I have some form of anxiety. A side effect of this is that I constantly go through moments where I believe no one likes me, or I constantly berate myself for not being “good enough”. Even though I’m often praised for my work, or my friends reach out to help me, I often feel like I don’t matter. I’m usually really good at talking myself out of it, but it gets hard sometimes. I am also really good at putting on a good face, so people don’t normally see this.

One day, I was stressing over a busy work day and getting things together for my afternoon classes. A fellow teacher, who doesn’t have a car, had already asked if I could drive her to an appointment during the second half of lunch. I agreed, thinking I would eat during the first half, when another coworker came up to ask for a favour. She had something happen with a student and needed to help him, but she had supervision during the first half of lunch. I agreed to take over her supervision, even though I now wouldn’t get a lunch, because I knew a student’s safety was more important. After the first half of lunch, I raced back into the classroom to grab my car keys, when my kids jumped out of nowhere and yelled:

“SURPRISE!”

I stood there confused for a moment, until I saw “Happy Birthday [My Name]” written on the board and a dozen treats and goodies laid out. It was February and my birthday wasn’t until July, and my students had worked with another coworker to arrange a surprise party so I could celebrate my birthday “in school”. I was completely touched and happily surprised with what my students planned, and even more surprised when I found out the whole staff was in on it, too. Both of my coworkers who had needed my help that lunch period were just keeping me away from the classroom so the students could set up.

This meant more than they realized, because I used to always believe I wasn’t special enough for someone to plan a surprise party for me. To have it happen on an already stressful day, and for it to be completely unexpected, helped me in ways I can’t describe. Thank you to my class and everyone involved for making me see something I didn’t!