15th Birthday for C

We took our young friend C out for dinner last night, to celebrate her 15th birthday which is coming up. We told C that she could invite one friend to come along with us, and she chose L. We picked up the girls and were surprised to find them dressed up in skirts. C knows that I always dress up when we go out for dinner, and I was happy to see the girls in skirts instead of their usual jeans. I've made it a point never to tell C what to wear. When she asks me, I usually tell her to wear what she feels comfortable in, as long as it's appropriate for wherever we're going. Then, if she asks me if jeans are appropriate (like when we took the girls to the ballet at Christmas) I give her my honest opinion. When we all went to the ballet to see "The Nutcracker" and the girls saw how dressed up everyone was, they realized that their jeans wouldn't have been the best choice.

Everyone at Babbo Bruno's made a fuss over C last night. For as many times as she has gone there with us, she knows most of the staff as well as the owners. And a couple of the waitresses have been to our home as guests, so they've gotten to know C very well, and are saddened to know that she'll soon be moving to Vegas.

I thought of that a few times during dinner last night, and had to really put it out of my mind quickly and just enjoy the evening. We were at the restaurant for three hours last night, taking our time with the different courses, and watching as C opened her gifts from us. She usually opens her gifts rather quickly, but she took her time last night. I don't think she wanted the night to end. Last year for her birthday, I had given her a candle in the shape of a birthday cake. She saved it and brought it to the restaurant with us last night.... K gave her a little plate to put it on, so C's special candle lit up the center of the table for us.

This year, I gave C a porcelain birthday cake, sort of a keepsake item, and she loved it because it was the color of aquamarine, which matched the little porcelain "March" girl that I gave her last year. We also gave her a photo album for pictures of all her friends here, and for new friends that she'll make in Vegas. C also loves to make her own greeting cards, and I found her a craft box filled with blank cards and all sorts of papers and ribbons and embellishmnets.

Her favorite gift was the little beaded box filled with 15 birthday "coupons." On each little coupons, I wrote down a gift-- books from the bookstore, clothing from Old Navy (which she loves), ice cream, a hamburger lunch, a Chinese dinner, go-kart rides, driving lessons..... I can't remember them all now. I told C that it's up to her to call us to "redeem" the coupons when she has the time.

For the past few years now, the plan had been for me to teach C to drive. Her mom is too nervous to do it, and her dad just didn't have the time, so C asked me. Now that she's 15, she can get her learner's permit, but her parents don't know yet if they'll have time for all of that before they move to Vegas. So I told C that the driving-lesson coupons (I wrote out a bunch of those) will have to depend on her parents' schedule for the move. Of course, she told me that we could "fix" that problem if me and my husband just put our house up for sale also.

And when C blew out the candle on last night's dessert, that was just what she wished for..... that we would move out to Vegas also. A nice thought on her part, but I can't see that happening. We will truly, truly miss this child when they move.