Happy Birthday To Me

When I turned 14, I had an extremely elaborate birthday party. It was Clue themed and everyone (all 15+ people) showed up dressed as their favorite character. I, by the way, do not pull off head-to-toe purple very well. There were candelabras and themed music. Alas, dad would not dress up as a butler and allow me to refer to him as Jeeves. Despite this, my parents deserve some sort of medal or trophy for cooking a sit down meal for so many teenagers. After dinner, we all watched the incredibly cheesy, but still great, movie adaptation of the game.

When I turned 17, I decided it would be oh so much fun to have a masquerade ball themed party. Everyone was instructed to wear a mask (duh!) and dress up in the finest clothes a bunch of 17 year olds could pull from their closets. The invitations were even printed on fancy paper, rolled up scroll style, and tied with a ribbon. Carrying them around in a plastic bag all day may have classed it down a bit, but so be it. We cleared the living room of furniture and I even put up special decorations. Dad even got in his little joke and prepared only ball shaped foods, which everyone but me seemed to find hilarious. A word of advice though…a masquerade ball is not quite as much fun when only 8 people show up and no one dances. We were wearing sweat pants and playing twister by the time the cake was cut.

When I turned 18, I thought I was hot stuff and decided to throw a "club" themed party…in my living room. We swapped out the regular lightbulbs for colored ones and set up a large "DJ area". The fact that said area was really just my then boyfriend, now fiancé, Nathan and a big CD player is not important. This time more than 8 people showed up and everyone was dressed club-esque. I even got to break out my sequined mini skirt. However, by the end of the night, we were all just sitting around talking and playing games. I should really just give up on throwing parties where people are supposed to dance. At least no one was wearing sweats.

When I turned 19, I didn't have a birthday party for the first time in my entire life. Instead, Nathan came up to Corvallis and surprised me, we gorged on Buffalo Wild Wings, and then we evacuated the dorms. Someone thought a bomb threat would be the best way to get out of their chemistry midterm. Happy birthday to me! That weekend, I came home to celebrate with my family. An amazing family friend of ours (thank you Jen!) made me a delicious dinner and an incredible cake. Before I blew out the candles, my mom spoke to me the last words I would ever hear her traditionally speak. She put her finger over her trach tube opening and said "happy birthday, Karina." Needless to say, I teared up a little bit.

Today I turned 20. I went out for a delicious dinner with my dad, sister, and fiancé. I ate some cake even though I really shouldn't have. Karissa and I had a laugh with Disney's Hercules. Tomorrow, Nathan is throwing me a birthday party. Today I turned 20 and I looked back on a year old Facebook message a thousand times. "Happy birthday to you my beloved Karina! I hope you have a fantastic day!"

Some parents say that they are too young to have a 20 year old. I say treasure the fact that you are here to see them turn 20.

Until next time,

Karina