Go 2 Girl Turns 21 Today
It’s my little girl’s 21st birthday today, and I’m not going to get sentimental like I did when she turned 18, but still…
For anyone who has kids – and I tend to think it’s more magnified with girls than boys – it’s hard to believe when they reach the age of an adult.
I think you’re officially an adult at 21, though I wonder if I’ll ever feel like I’m one, and I’m almost 55.
Even though I said I wasn’t going to get sentimental, I still managed to tear up when I saw Brooke at P.F. Chang’s in Bellevue last night. Twenty-one. Wow.
I remember her first day of kindergarten at Sunset Elementary in Issaquah, and now she’s one year from graduating with a degree in apparel merchandising from Washington State.
Last night was fun. Brooke spent the evening with several friends, all of whom stayed at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue. Her mom and I went to their adjoining hotel rooms and left around 10:30. At midnight, when she officially turned 21, Brooke and her friends no doubt hit as many bars as they could before last call.
She’s probably sick as a dog this morning. The last time I saw her, she was having a margarita and taking a swig of Fireball. She was wearing a necklace with shots of Jose Cuervo and Jagermeister dangling in front of her, and at some point, her friends were no doubt urging her to drink them.
I’m sure she’ll be in great shape when I see her later today. We’re planning to go to Alki for a family dinner at Pegasus. I don’t think she’ll be in the same kind of mood she was in last night, but that’s OK.
It will be strange to go to a bar with my kid. I’ve never done that before. I want to take her to the Roanoke for lunch on Mercer Island. I also want to take her to Lake Tahoe this summer so we can have margaritas on the beach, and I can teach her how to play (and lose at) craps.
She got home from Pullman last week and will be interning at the Bellevue Nordstrom starting in June. She might also be working as a beverage-cart girl at Newcastle.
It’s weird watching your kids grow up. You’re happy for them, but at the same time, you wish they could stay little forever. Strange deal. I guess we all go through it.
At any rate, I’m proud of her and happy for her and I just wanted to pass along a few thoughts about her on her 21st birthday. And the video.
Go Cougs.
