Last Friday afternoon my kitchen counters looked like this:

And the bureau in the mudroom looked like this:

And my backyard looked like this:

I bet you’d like to know why my counters were covered with hamburger, lettuce and chicken wings. And why the mudroom was loaded with taco shells and flour tortillas. And probably you’d especially like to know why we had one of our Civil War canopies set up in the backyard, all decorated with Mexican blankets and chili pepper lights and other Southwestern type stuff.

Well, I’ll tell you why. It was all in preparation for my daughter Hannah’s Sweet Sixteen Party. Here she is, the little darlin’!

One of Hannah’s favorite things is tacos so we decided to have a taco bar for the main food at her birthday party. And once we’d decided that, well, we just sort of ran with it as a theme. It was fun to come up with the decorations and food ideas and the tacos were a really big hit with the kids – and adults, too, frankly.

We hired a DJ and the kids enjoyed the music and some karaoke, too, including a pretty funny rendition of “Hot, Hot, Hot” from Hannah’s friends and a very sweet rendition of “Sixteen Candles” from Hannah’s dad, aka Dale.

And now here we are today – Hannah’s actual 16th birthday – and I’m wondering where the hell the time has gone. Really, I blinked and now here she is, a junior in high school, itching to drive a car, get a job and go to college. And all the while I just want to stop time and make her my little girl again. Sniff.

Won’t you all join Dale and I and wish her a very happy sweet sixteen? Thanks! And pass the Kleenex.