A 10-year-old gets the birthday of a lifetime after no one says they're coming.
It's a rare occurrence when a professional football player shows up to your 10th birthday party. Especially when he wasn't originally invited.
But then again, Mackenzie Moretter's 10th birthday didn't turn out to be your average party.
All images by Keighla's Fresh Face Photography, used with permission.
Mackenzie lives in Shakopee, Minnesota, and had planned on celebrating her big day with kids her age in her backyard.
When every single guest declined Mackenzie's invitation, it looked like her birthday party was going to fall through.
Heartbreak and panic began to set in. Mackenzie's mom, Jenny Moretter, knew she needed to figure out a backup plan fast.
Mackenzie was born with a rare genetic disorder called Sotos syndrome that's made it difficult for her to make friends. The disorder has caused developmental delays and excessive physical growth during her childhood.
"She’s bubbly and she’s caring when you get to know her," Jenny told Upworthy. With Mackenzie's party only a day away — and no one coming — she knew she had to do something.
Jenny got online and, quite hesitantly, started posting her family's predicament in some local groups on Facebook.
Her goal was to hopefully get a couple of moms to bring their kids over to say "happy birthday" to Mackenzie. Nothing big.
But that's not what happened.
The posts she put up on Facebook received a ton of responses and spread to other groups — and then nationally. News stations began to call their house. Community members started asking to help plan the party. Local businesses committed to catering and decorating. A GoFundMe campaign was set up to cover all of the costs. A Facebook invite launched. The party went from being held in their small backyard to a local park. All within 11 hours.
Image by Facebook, used with permission.
The next day, when Mackenzie and her family showed up at the park, they couldn't believe what they saw.
Elsa from Frozen was there.
NFL Vikings player Charles Johnson came by with his family.
A DJ was there. Local firefighters showed up. A photographer, too. The place was flowing with pizza and cupcakes. A dream!
More than 350 complete strangers came out to celebrate Mackenzie's big day.
The mayor of their town Shakopee even declared it "Mackenzie Moretter Day." How many 10-year-olds get a day named after them?!
"I have a hard time making friends in school, but thanks to all of you … my voice was heard," Mackenzie told the crowd, according to KARE 11. "I love you all."
It's a day that will be remembered forever.
"I can’t explain it," Jenny said. "It was the most amazing thing that could have happened to our family. The outpouring support of strangers. People sending cards and calling. We received cards from all over the world: China, Ireland, even a personal letter from a supreme court judge."
And best of all? It's helped Mackenzie to find her voice.
"She speaks her mind freely now and is more confident."
Sometimes things don't go as expected in life, and sometimes your backup plan turns into the greatest plan of all.
"It's showed me the importance of spreading a message of acceptance, tolerance and love beyond just our home. And it's given Mackenzie a new voice and confidence, I never thought I'd see. This has truly been a life-changing experience for our whole family."
It's the ultimate gift. See more from Mackenzie's special day in this KARE 11 exclusive:
A Generation Jones teenager poses in her room.Image via Wikmedia Commons
An office kitchen.via 
An angry man eating spaghetti.via 
An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
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Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.