When Tuesday November 5th roles around there will be one more adult residing in our home. No it’s not the day a Russian mail order bride arrives…she’s on back order until after the holidays. Does a mail man actually deliver them? There’s not a lot of room in our mail man’s delivery truck. She’d have to ride on his lap. He could let her steer, run the blinkers, fart around with the radio, honk the horn, deliver a few letters. It would be a fine welcome to her new life in America. A much more suitable arrival for a new bride than a cardboard box with a few holes punched in it.

November 5th used to be our little girl’s birthday. Then one day I turned around for a second helping of Little Mermaid cake and next thing I know she’s gone and grown up on me. Our daughter, Sierra, not the Little Mermaid. I haven’t kept up with the Little Mermaid much. Last I heard she had fallen on tough times, had a fling with Shrek, and developed a taste for lobster.

On November 5th of this particular year Sierra will be 18 years old. It seems like only 10 years ago she was turning 8. Eighteen. We’ve got a busy day planned for the newest member of the adult world. A world that will take all of your childhood hopes and dreams, hoist them up nice and high and then ever so swiftly bring them smashing down. She’s got plenty of time to experience that so we’ll ease her into it.

We’ll start off with a nice adult breakfast of bran flakes, prune juice, and lactose free milk. Once breakfast has ran its course we’ll head down to the Marine recruiting station, give blood, buy a pack of Vantage Menthols, get a couple tattoos, register to vote, buy a lottery ticket, and head to Manitoba for a Labatt’s. The most vexing question is whether to go with a unicorn, a butterfly, or a dragon tattoo…with my face on each of course.

On the return trip from Manitoba she can swing into a pawn shop to start her gun, guitar, and gold chain collection. Then it’s off to the courthouse for jury duty and to change her name to something more exotic and worldly. Maybe Raksmei, Chankrisna, Yooralla, or Peg. Such a busy day.

An adult. My daughter an adult. Do children ever actually fully become an adult in the eyes of their parents? It seems as though to accomplish that I would have to completely forget about the piggy back rides to bed, the pushes on the swing, the way she yelled “Daddy” and ran into my arms when I picked her up after school, how she needed me to tie her shoes, braid her hair, and be her horsey.

I can’t forget those things. She hasn’t needed those things for some time now but I’ll keep holding onto them for her…for me.

Happy Birthday Sierra. Proud of the adult you’ve become. Being an adult’s not so bad if you can resist growing up.