Long before Mtv had that show “My Super Sweet 16″…actually, long before they stopped playing music videos, I digresss…long before their show portraying hideously spoiled 15 year olds prepping to turn 16, I myself turned 16 years old and despite how rough and traumatic my high school years were, mostly due to my father, he did do one thing right, planned an epic “sweet 16” for me that I still maintain as one of the best birthdays I ever had. It was so good I even wrote an essay about it. Though I can’t remember if I wrote it in high school or when I was in college. I actually still have a copy of it. I thought about transcribing some of it into this post, but I think I’ll reflect on that birthday from my adult perspective nearly 30 years later.
Back when I turned 16, in the year 1998, there was only one gift I really wanted, and that was a stereo. One that could hold multiple c.d.s and had a remote. I cut out ads in sale papers and magazines and gave it to my parents and also mailed it to my sisters. As for the actual birthday celebration, I didn’t think anything big was going to happen. My parents were scheduled to vend at a craft show in the mountains and I was going with them. They told me that they had invited my grandparents to join us but it was too far of a drive for them from Florida. In addition to that, both of my sisters had to work that weekend so they couldn’t come either. That Friday, my parents loaded the van and we set off for the mountains. They put a few birthday presents in there too, but none were the size of a stereo. I knew it would be a nice birthday, but not exactly what I was hoping for.
When we pulled into the hotel, our timing seemed to be perfect, because as soon as my dad pulled into a parking space, I saw my grandparents walking out of the hotel. What a surprise! They had made the trip after all, just to surprise me on my birthday and spend the weekend with me! I thought that was all I was in for. We all got settled into the hotel and then got ready to go out to dinner. My dad and I were waiting in the van for my mom and grandparents to come out. They were taking a little longer than expected. So I sat in the back of the van waiting while my dad sat in the driver’s seat.
All of a sudden, my dad bolts out of the van and runs around to the side where I sat and threw open the door. He frantically motioned for me to come out. When I got out and stood beside him next to the van, he put his arm around me and pointed to a jeep that was driving through the parking lot. He leaned down close and said, “Happy birthday”. At first I was confused. Was the jeep my present? I didn’t even have my license yet, let alone be ready to receive a car as a gift. He must have caught on to my confusion and hesitation because then he said, “Jenny! Paula! Your sisters!” And that’s when it dawned on me. That was Paula’s jeep! My sisters had also made the drive down to be with me on my birthday!
I’ll never forget that moment. The pure rush of excitement at realizing my sisters and my whole family had come together to surprise me for my birthday. After I ran across the parking lot to them, I stopped dead when I got to the jeep and saw what was in the back seat. A massive box that literally took up the whole backseat. It was a stereo! This one to be exact (except mine had two additional surround sound speakers and a remote):
That birthday weekend lives rent free in my mind, as it should. The moment in the parking lot when I saw my sisters pull up and saw that stereo in the backseat was almost like my own version of getting a b.b. gun for Christmas. It was definitely something that felt like it was straight out of a movie. My 16th birthday was not worthy of an episode of that show on Mtv, but it was definitely super sweet.
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