Happy Sweet Sixteen

Happy sweet 16 to you, birthday girl
Your big moment has finally arrived
Today, you are the queen of your own world
You’ve achieved that for which, for so long, you’ve strived
I hope that today’s the very best of your days
The most excellent it could possibly be
But despite the chaos and birthday craze
I hope you don’t ever forget about me
I know that lately we haven’t been too close
We have slowly been drifting apart
But as you can see through this poem so verbose
The good times will always be in my heart
In 7th grade, I was the new kid around
You were just a girl in class I barely knew
But by the end, a new friendship had been found
And so began our journey of best pals, me and you
The first day of 8th grade, we learned we shared a common crush
We raced home to talk about it right after school
After that, we made sure to get to 8-4 in a rush
To see the guy we thought was so awesomely cool
Remember all the crazy sleepovers we had
We’d watch movies till the middle of the night
During Pearl Harbor, you got so unbelievably sad
But seeing your retainer-mouthed cry was such a sight
Remember the Christmas party, the Outsiders, your Ross impression
The Cotillion, youth group, our names—Mango, the Nat-Nat
My great stalking skills, all our insane obsessions
Windle, the Gas Station Guy in the backwards hat
The Relay for Life, selling stickers at lunch
Escaping our ridiculous families at each other’s homes
Decho’s class, where we’d sit in back and secretly munch
Your little dog’s disgusting, odd-colored mouth foams
Pink Speedo-wearing, ice hockey-playing guys
Watching Troy twice for Orlando the little baby
Endless, useless, science fair projects tries
Thinking every stray (or not) animal you see has rabies
Hilarious dolphin-looking basketball shots
Not signing your yearbook till the following year
Millions of laughs, you know we’ve had lots
Mixed in with the thousands of sudden bouts of fear
The freaky face at the beginning of the Signs DVD
Looking at paint colors till we again felt secure
Jumping at the image of the “sasquatch” in Bruce Almighty
The Yankees big loss to the Red Sox we had to endure
Rolling the ball into the court at your bro’s basketball game
Your initial shortage of computer know-how
Our attempts to play badminton that turned out so lame
Shopping for Halloween costumes in the shape of a cow
Plans for me to baby-sit your kids when we’re older
Heading to the Café and talking for hours
My burning questions for Mr. Ayer that made me so much bolder
Being there to discuss what happened with the Twin Towers
So many more memories from throughout the years that we share
Yet, in my mind, they all seem so fresh and brand new
Always remember that, in friendship, we make a great pair
And once again, happy sweet 16 to you