Mission accomplished. Our daughter Sierra’s longtime wish of celebrating her 21st birthday in Lignite at the 109 Club was a rousing success. It was the birthday girls wish that everyone come to her party dressed as their favorite movie character, and a grand old time was had by all the “stars” in attendance. A few years back I had my 21st in the 109 as well, but it pales in comparison to this star-studded gathering.

We had Ethel and Norman from “On Golden Pond”, Vivian from “Pretty Woman”, Jim Halpert from “The Office”, Ricky, Lucy, and Ethel from “I Love Lucy”, Joanna or Annie from “Overboard”, Samantha from “Sixteen Candles”, King-Kong, Donnie from “Donnie Darko”, and Rachel from “The Bodyguard”. Sierra and my brother Gabe chose The Dude and Walter from “The Big Lebowski”, makes a father proud.

As for me, I chose my favorite “home” movie character, 1980s Donavon. After I got into character, a costume that included an actual pair of my dad’s old cowboy boots, I walked upstairs to wet my whistle, and to see if dad would recognize the “character” I was shooting for. As I walked, the clip-clop of dad’s boots on the floor instantly brought me back. Back to my room in the basement of our old house, where most every morning I would hear the sound of dad’s boots moving about above me as he prepared to head off to work.

That sound above me meant many things. It meant my father worked long hours to provide for his family (still does), and it meant that I had about two more hours of sleep before I had to shuffle upstairs for a bowl of Peanut Butter Captain Crunch and be late for school. It was a comforting sound (unless you had done something stupid and hadn’t cooked up a good story yet), and thirty-years later, as I strolled around in my dad’s boots that same feeling of security and comfort came over me.

Although my dad’s boots fit me perfectly, I know I will never fill them to the capacity he has, but a boy can try.

The party started at mom and dads with food, drinks, stogies, lots of laughs, and of course a photo shoot of the stars in all their glory. The party really got going when the karaoke machine got fired up, and all the stars acted like they could sing. After a bit of indulgence in all the above, murmurs of heading uptown to pay our respects to the 109 Club began, and the crowd of characters dispersed like moths (possibly a plague of locust) towards the street lights of main street Lignite.

For the most part the rest of the evening consisted of dancing (a.k.a. jumping about in a quasi-rhythmic fashion), singing (a.k.a. yelling in a quasi-intelligible tone), and of course the occasional cocktail (hate to cramp up mid “Hammertime”).

I’ve been to a few 21st birthdays in my day, and this one takes top honors. I think the “come as your favorite movie character” directive was the key ingredient lending to the success and elevated level of revelry.

“Thank you” Sierra, for giving all those characters you call family the opportunity to share your day with you. Also, a big “thank you” to the lead characters in our lives (mom and dad) for hosting the party and fanning the flames of fun. You’ve taught us well.