The Surprise Birthday

Yesterday was the big birthday surprise day, and from her own words: "It was the best birthday... EVER." =o)

It started out with my waking her up at 6:45am and telling her she had to get upstairs to eat her birthday muffin. In my most solemn tone, I told it was all she had because Hubby and I binged the night before, devouring her entire pan of birthday brownies. I also said something about spending the day cleaning and doing yard work, but she was giggling, so I'm guessing the part of the plan about fooling her didn't work.

On the dining room table sat a lemon-poppyseed muffin with a candle in it, which almost had her believing the day would be same-ol-same-ol. We lit the candle, sang Happy Birthday and she opened her card which read something like 'you're not getting anything but this card'. So far, so good. Then I pointed out there was something else in the envelope. (The night before I created a certificate entitling her to an all expense paid trip out of town - good only 8/12/09.)

Once she read the certificate, much squeeing and jumping occurred. Sixteen year old girls should squee and jump around on their birthday, so SCORE!

Anyway, Darling Daughter and I packed ourselves into the car and headed off to Loveland where we had a most wonderful day. We started off at Best Buy, then hit Barnes & Noble. After that, lunch was approaching, so we climbed back into the car and went to Applebees, where we gorged ourselves on appetizer platters and she got free dessert. Next was a trip to Borders before we started the haul back home. She thought our trip was over...

But I was holding a couple more surprises along the way.

Every year she gets to pick what I make for her birthday dinner. This year she wanted homemade pizza, but with the trip, I knew making the crust would be impossible. A few days before her birthday, I asked if I could just skip making pizza because it's such a pain. (I think I also whined about slaving away in the kitchen when it's been so hot here.) I laid it on thick and she relented. She said she'd be happy with any pizza... she pouted when I said Totinos was on sale, but she even said that would be okay. (The Totinos may have been pushing it. She was so bummed.)

Imagine her surprise when we made a slight detour on the way home and pull into a Dominoes parking lot. More squeeing. The whole car smelled like pizza for the rest of the drive, but it was worth it.

Our arrival home would've been the end. It almost was the end. You see, I still had one more thing up my sleeve - except for the brownies, which she was relieved to find hadn't been eaten - and I almost forgot about it. Good thing I went into my bedroom before it got dark. You see, hidden in the corner where she wouldn't accidentally see it (and I almost missed it) was her final present.

A brand new red pick-up truck!

Of course, it's only 1/32 scale, but still - it was a new car for her 16th birthday. I almost got her a silver sports car (Matchbox version) but then I remembered how much she loved red pick-up trucks. She loved that I remembered, and it was the icing on the cake of a special sweet sixteen.

I don't remember my own sixteenth birthday. I'm sure it was a day like any other. Daughter's wasn't a huge expensive birthday. There weren't any parties or a real car. But it's one she'll remember for the rest of her life.

And that's what a sixteenth birthday should be like.

Do you remember your sweet sixteen? If so, what was it like? Did anyone make it special for you?