Please understand that this planning has been in the making since several months prior. I was sure to not recreate the disaster of senior year when I (allegedly) forgot your birthday in the morning and wrote a half-assed letter in my Chamorro teacher's boring class. This year, I'm going to make sure that your first day of not being a teen is absolutely wonderful. I'm setting the bar for the rest of your adult life to come, baby girl. So let's begin:
You will probably awake sleepy-eyed with drool leaking down the side of your face, emerging from a (probably sensual) dream about your professor a.k.a part-time lover Garcia; or you will probably stay up the entire morning, eager that you're no longer a lanky, awkward teen but now a lanky, awkward twenty-year old! And you might even disobey my instruction to wait to read this blog or not read it before you do anything else like you were supposed to do. So, if you're doing the former, stop reading now. And if you're doing the latter, you have probably spoiled the surprise for yourself. In any event, I can prolong no longer!
After you open your twenty-year old eyes this morning, you will partake in a birthday adventure! (Well, not really, but I'd like to think so.) I have set up sixteen gifts around your usual whereabouts in the day for you to discover. Why sixteen? Well, at least this I have a good reason for: It was many moons ago that I sat up at night, sorrowful over the fact that I missed your birthday yesteryear (lol). And I thought to myself "How could I possibly make up for that?" Then it hit me. "Of course, just get her another gift for last year!" But, that was too typical, too obvious, too predictable. So, I thought a little more, and I realized "Why just give her a gift for only that one year that I've missed? Why not give one for every single birthday I was not in your life?" And, aside from the four that I've been with you through high school, sixteen was what remained (20-4=16, in case you want to know how I did that because I know about your MA085 placement.... JUST KIDDING! #sorrynotsorry). So, I compiled a list to make this, without a doubt, the best birthday you've ever had. So, back to the adventure--you will find gifts throughout the day tagged with a number starting from 1 all the way to 16. I hope this isn't terribly lame, but at least you won't get bored throughout the day! So get on it, Kezia Ann Francisco Andrada, twenty-year old lanky, awkward girl who eats lumpia for breakfast at 9:34 in the morning. GO FORTH!
And by the way, to start you off, here is gift number one: