Best and worst birthdays

Understandably, I don’t remember every single birthday party I’ve ever had or been to, but a few stick out in my mind. The best birthday party I’ve ever had was for my seventh birthday.

My parents threw me a huge party. Seven isn’t a special age nor does it have any significant meaning, so I’m not sure why they threw a big party. It could have been that big parties were popular at the time. My parents rented out part of a mini golf course, maybe about six or eight holes, and invited a bunch of my friends and their families to come join us. My father and I were late for the party. It was his fault (he couldn’t find candles or a lighter for the cake, which he forgot to buy days before), but everyone else was already there, including my mom who was hosting, and having lots of fun.

When my father and I finally arrived, everyone happily welcomed me and were excited to see me. In mini golf people usually keep score, but no one was competing at the party. Everyone was just having fun. The only time people noticed the score was when someone got a hole in one, and everyone cheered and applauded the person who got it. Parents happily chatted with one another while praising and encouraging all the kids.

My parents got me a really nice cake for the event. It wasn’t nicely decorated, but the flavor was immaculate. It was an orange chocolate cake. The flavor was rich and full, and the orange blended perfectly with the chocolate. All the ingredients were real, so there were no fake or artificial flavors. It seems like such a sophisticated cake for a 7-year-old, so I guess the cake was more for the parents to enjoy. I remember it being the best cake I had ever had. On top of that, I received the first Harry Potter book as my birthday present at this party. Harry Potter was starting to gain traction, and my friend got it for me because it was starting to become such a popular book for children. I read it almost immediately and fell in love. I became a Potter head (a Harry Potter fan) from then on, attending every midnight release of each book in the series at my local book store over the next few years.

The worst birthday party I ever experienced was my best friend’s one. Something bad happened to me during it. My best friend’s mother had decided to throw my best friend a surprise party. She was a single mother, so just the two of them live in their apartment. Since I was her best friend at the time, her mother put me in charge of the apartment while she took her daughter out to get her nails done. While I was in charge, all of the other friends came to the apartment and hid their gifts. My friend’s mother texted me, telling me to tell everyone to hide while they were on their way back home. We turned off all the lights, made sure the apartment looked normal, and everyone hid. Most of us hid behind a couch which was in front of the front door. When my friend’s mom opened the door and turned on the light, all of us jumped out of hiding. My friend screamed. A shrill, blood-curdling, horrific shriek. She screamed for so long that we all had to cover our ears. She was absolutely terrified! She even had tears in her eyes. Even though she knew all of us, she wasn’t expecting to see anyone in her home, especially since she and her mom lived there alone. We felt so horrible for scaring her. She then realized who we were, and she apologized and felt bad, but we felt worse. We all ran to comfort her, cheerily wish her a happy birthday and give her her presents. In the end, the party was great, and we all had a lot of fun. However, we felt so horrible about how it started.

There are a lot to birthday parties in the US. Maybe, I’ll tell some more stories next time. Until then!

Bernadette

Vocabulary

immaculate (adjective) – having no flaw or error
sophisticated (adjective) – highly developed and complex
gain traction (phrasal verb) – to start to have success or move forward
shrill (adjective) – high-pitched