My Most Memorable Birthday Cake

One week ago I was diagnosed with the Influenza. I am almost well again. Just a minor amount of congestion and a little bit of a cough before all signs of illness are gone. This is good. It means that I was one of the lucky ones and it really was a seven-day disease for me. :)

Tomorrow marks the last day of what should have been my work week. I'm still a little disoriented and feeling like I'm sleep walking a little. Things just don't seem real.

I wrote more to this blog, but it made me all sad and I started crying. So I've decided to save that part for a different day when I won't cry about it... If such a day exists. Instead I want to write about my 16th birthday party.

I did not have a sweet sixteen. We were in the process of moving from OK and there was no time, and probably no money, for a proper sweet sixteen party. My dad and Allan had already moved to UT in March so it was my mom, Bekkie, all the younger kids and me. My mom put the table on the back porch (I remember it was a beautiful day) and put the special birthday tablecloth on it. We ate dinner- most likely chicken and rice as that's a favorite of mine- then my mom brought out the cake. We didn't normally do a lot of special cakes in my family, but this one was special. Katie- maybe with some help, though I can't recall for sure- had taken the time to cut out the various body parts of a Mr. Potato Head (yes, I really liked him at the time even though I was 16), frosted and assembled them into a cake complete with arms and a moustache. It was my most memorable birthday cake.

I don't really like cake all that much anymore. I normally request brownies and the like to be served at my family parties now. But I will never forget that simple 16th birthday party and the love that was put into that cake. I don't know if I ever really thanked Katie and whatever helpers she had... Thank you for the cake and so much more.