It’s All Adults 

Today we only have adults living in our house for today Carter turned 18. It is one of those moments I thought was much further off, but suddenly it snuck up on me. My baby is not a baby, at least not in the eyes of the law.
Having your birthday on Pearl Harbor Day is not a very cheery holiday. That and add that it is the week before exams and the stress of everyone waiting to her from colleges, and concussion recovery and it is hump day, just not a lot of fun. To help counteract all these things I enlisted two of Carter’s friends to hand out cookies to two of her favorite classes in honor of her birthday. I also had 18 Mylar balloons appear one or two or more at a time all day.  
First I brought her four balloons in the art studio where she has a small breakfast club like class. It made her very happy. Then she got a one in Phycology and one in Modern Euro. Four more balloons were tied to her car, another few to the mailbox at home and her seat in the breakfast room and lastly in her bedroom. In all the gathering of the balloons she only lost one to the sky and one untied itself from the mailbox. We call that a birthday party in heaven when you have a balloon fly off into the atmosphere.
Sadly Russ was very sick today. Last year he was in Australia on Carter’s birthday. Perhaps he is secretly protesting her getting older. This sickness got him out of going to Carter’s choice of restaurants for her birthday dinner. In an unintended show of detente Carter chose a Japanese restaurant at which to celebrate. We invited her friend Ashley to replace Russ since she is like a member of our family.
After dinner Carter and I came home to have her cake with Russ. In a nod to her German heritage I made her a gingerbread cake. Her German father enjoyed it immensely and it might have helped him feel a little better.
Carter opened her gifts and that is when I could see that she was actually an adult. She was genuinely excited to be getting socks and underwear. She got a good winter coat and a beautiful jacket from my father and she was thrilled. Not a lot of hoopla, but a very grown up day. I no longer have a child, just a really nice adult daughter for whom I am so thankful.