Sixteen Candles

January 23, 2013 at 6:00 am · Filed under stories and tagged: Birthday Party, birthdays, sweet sixteen

< by Anna >

It was my 16th birthday and sophomore year of high school. I celebrated with a few girlfriends in some unremarkable way — like going to a movie or out to lunch. My b-day is close to Christmas, so I’ve come to not expect anything epic in the way of parties devoted to moi, just because people tend to generally be unavailable over the holidays.

So this birthday wasn’t disappointing, just par for the December Baby course. Us ladies were slated to hang out at my friend Gloria’s house after the movie, but I was feeling kind of blah and just wanted to go home. But Gloria convinced me to come inside for a little while. We were making our way down the steps to her parent’s wood-paneled basement when I saw that we weren’t alone.

“SURPRISE!”

A surprise party! For crabby my-birthday-is-too-close-to-Christmas ME! And…

<drumroll>

… there were boys.

Wonderful, gangly, pimply boys. My ultimate, forever #1 crush from driver’s ed was there, completely swoon-worthy in his baggy skater jeans, black Tool t-shirt, and Wave Rave snowboard shop hat. Gloria’s crush was there, in a brimless African kufi hat, sipping a Mountain Dew at the built-in bar, standing between the Leinenkugel sign and taxidermied deer butt. Yes, just the butt. No, he was not African. To be fair to these fellows, I should mention I was wearing a Hartford Whalers jersey and a Star Trek communicator device — both gifts.

The soda and Old Dutch chips flowed freely that night and we had an exquisite evening of merriment and inept flirting. We didn’t know it but we were in those final upward clicks right before the life rollercoaster crests the life hill and goes plummeting at breakneck speed into adulthood. Carefree and dressed like a little nerdy dude, it was my best birthday yet!

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