Today is my birthday!!!

I'm not going to have a big party - just my parents, my sister, and my Papa. The Big Buccaneer Birthday Bash I'm going to have later with my closest pals.

My dad is taking me after lunch to a huge gravel parking lot near Costco to give me some driving lessons. I'm so excited! AND there's no worry about the 100 degree Southern California weather 'cause the truck is air conditioned. Driving lesson AND I'm beatin' the heat. SWEET.

I can't wait (but I will) to see what's in the big red bag in the living room. I had ten things on my birthday wish list this year, and I have absolutely no idea what my mom got me. This is the perfect opportunity to exercise my self restraint while at the same time taking that final step into Crazytown.

Some of you probably get the same thing; this morning, my dad remarked how he felt like last night he'd slept 14 years, and how just yesterday I was a curly-haired little girl screaming "Air car!" at passing planes. (Okay, maybe that final part you guys don't hear much from your parents.) I replied that I felt as if a hundred years have passed and I'm still just 16. Time is passing very slowly for me. I'm going to be sure to cling to every hour. It makes life seem so much longer.