Project 365 - Photo of the Day - January 2, 2009

Rachel is officially 18 years old. Hard to believe that 18 years ago I was 33 years old and scared to death about whether I would be a good mother. Now, looking back, I can honestly say that it has all been my pleasure to raise this child. She had her moments, but don't we all? There was nothing at all to fear about parenthood. It came to me naturally, like breathing. I didn't need a manual to know whether I was doing a good job.

So we woke Rachel up with a bouquet of 18 sunflowers . . . her favorite flower. She didn't know what to say. She had this look of surprise on her face . . . but she had no clue what was to come for the rest of the day.



After a wonderful lunch with my father and his girlfriend at the Grand Luxe Cafe . . . with a luscious hot apple pie with vanilla ice cream made while we were eating lunch . . . . we dropped Rachel at the house. She seemed very depressed and wouldn't tell me what was bothering her. I knew that her friends were all telling her that they were busy.

So Joel, Adina and I went all over to get cake, balloons, decorate and pick up her present. This photo is of Adina peeking through the massive amount of balloons in the back seat of our car!



And the moment of surprise! Rachel was showered with eight friends spraying her with silly string!!! She really was surprised. She never had a surprise party and this blew her away.



Here are all of her friends. They are a great bunch of kids. They are polite and funny and very respectful. They had a ball. We even brought in a belly dancer for a little fun. They were embarrassed but I finally got them up one at a time and took photos! At the end of the evening each one of them gave me a hug and thanked us.



And what party would be complete without a birthday cake?? It was supposed to be strawberry shortcake but someone at the bakery had a senior moment and made it with chocolate cake! Duh! Oh well, they said that next time we need a cake, it is on them! Well, Joel's birthday is coming up in a few weeks.



After the party I let Rachel go with her friends to Las Olas Blvd and get ice cream at Kilwin's. It is an old fashioned ice cream parlor. Then I met Rachel at the Cinema Paradiso in downtown Fort Lauderdale at midnight and we saw the Rocky Horror Picture Show! Oh what an experience that was!!! We laughed a lot and didn't get home until almost 3 a.m.!! Needless to say, I slept really late on Saturday. But it was worth it.