Sixteen. I didn’t know why, but it had always felt like it would be a monumental birthday. As if the years before this were just playing at being a teenager, but now, I really was one. Grief hit me hard and fast as I heard my father’s voice in my mind from when I was a little girl. “Sweet sixteen’s a big one. We’re gonna throw you one epic party when that day comes.” There would be no epic party. No balloons or presents or anything like that. But maybe, just maybe, Mom would be a little kinder to me today.
