Eighteen Wishes

The Party

That night my family, friends, and close neighbors met in my grandmother's backyard to celebrate my birthday. I was amazed at the decorations that were hung around the yard and on the fence. I was first welcomed by my grandmother wrapping me up into a tight hug. After saying hello and hugging everyone I went around to look at the decorations; small fairy lights were wrapped around the base of the tree and there were more fairy lights along with mason jars that contained tea light candles in them. Walking over to the tree in awe I looked up to see different pictures from my short almost eighteen years hanging in the tree also. Continuing to look around I saw that the fence had been set up to be like a photo booth and also had lights hanging on it.

The night was filled with lots of laughs and stories, I could feel the burn in my face from smiling so much. Everyone was having a great time eating the delicious food and chatting that the time for presents came extremely fast. The time came to open presents and the first thing was a card. I carefully opened the envelope and opened the card to read it when something fell out. As I looked at what was on the floor I recognized the three small pieces of paper. My jaw almost fell to the floor when I saw the plane tickets laying on the ground. I picked them up and held them up to see the destination on the tickets. As I read out loud what the tickets said I almost screamed and jumped out of my chair. My family had come together to get my mom, a friend, and myself round trip plane tickets to London, England for two weeks! This was honestly the best birthday gift I could have asked for! I couldn't control my smile or excitement for the rest of the night. Saying thank you to all of my family and giving them a hug; I was so happy about the trip that I almost forgot about the other presents from my friends.

When I had finished opening everything I looked around at my family and friends, I couldn't believe how blessed I was to have such amazing friends and a family who love me this much. I thanked everyone and went around giving each person a hug and some their third hug of the night, for everything they did to make this night happen. As the party ended and people started leaving I went over to my grandmother and gave her the biggest hug I could manage without hurting her.

"Thank you for everything Grandmother. I love you." I whispered into her ear as we embraced.

"I love you too my sweet Lily." She whispered back. I couldn't help the smile that had taken permanent residence on my face. As I got into the car with my mom I couldn't wrap my head around how much love was in my life. At one point my life was full of sadness and hatred from bullies, but today I was surrounded by everyone who loved me and has helped shape me into the person I am now. When I got home I was so tired I hurriedly changed into my PJs and laid down in my warm bed. I went to bed thinking of how my grandmother has always been there for me and how she had given me the most beautiful name ever. My heart was so full of love and thankfulness for the party that everyone had put together. It made life seem worth living.