DC Turns 16

Ahh, childhood.

As we move from being a child to being an adult it seems that every year or two there is some major event tied to your birthday.

13 - now officially a teenager.
15 - can get a driver's permit.
16 - can drive on your own.
17 - can see R rated movies
18 - can vote
21 - can legally drink

A short time ago my daughter turned 16. Since my daughter's 16th birthday coincided with the same year of my wife's 40th birthday, about a month ago we spent a day at Discovery Cove swimming with the dolphins.

It was a wonderful and relaxing time. We snorkled with enough schools of fish to create a large aquatic college, lazed around in a warm relaxing river and spent 1/2 hour with a dolphin name Tyler, who presented Dorothea with a Sweet 16 buoy.

Yesterday, however, was the actual anniversary date of my daughter's birth, so we, along with some of her close friends and relatives, went to Arigato's for dinner. We all had a wonderful time, despite the fact that our waitress had the personality of a doormat.

Afterwards we went home and devoured another of Dea's fine cake creations.

Dea has a knack for making wonderfully creative cakes. Over the years she has made a Frankenstein cake, a piano cake, a movie popcorn and drink cake, and a baseball cake.

This year she made a three layered, colorful, yet elegant cake with home made chocolate hearts attached around the bottom... 16 of them.

We finished off the evening by watching a very funny film called Noises Off. The 1992 movie is based on a play and stars Carol Burnett, Michael Caine, John Ritter, Christopher Reeve, Nicollete Sheridan, Mary Lou Henner and Deholm Elliot, among others. The film is about a play being put on and traveling around the country.

The first act shows the dress rehearsal and how the play is supposed to happen.

The second act is entirely behind the set and shows how the play and the relationships between the cast and crew has deteriorated over the months.

The third act again shows the play from the front and how complete anarchy has enveloped the performance.

It's one of D.C.'s favorite films and we've loved the it for a long time. There are two bad words that we always conveniently mute keeping it excessively tame by today's PG-13 rating. D.C. and I were concerned that it was more funny to us than others because of our love of movies and our experiences in theater.

Our fears quickly subsided as the group of D.C.'s friends laughed hysterically from beginning to end. We laughed so often and so loudly that Dea's parents took the movie home with them so they could see what the fun was all about.

Afterward the girls hunkered down around the dining room table for an extensive and humorous bout of girl talk.

The evening finally ended around 10:00 PM.

As I went to bed I could not believe my little girl was 16 years old. I remembered her birth, holding her in my arms, feeling her baby breath against my cheek. It all seems like it happened yesterday.

Amazing how time flies.

I'm just happy she had a memorable birthday to remember.