For my birthday.
I do get a couple of cards.
Monica gives me one
at dinner. On the front
it shows two girls holding
hands, getting ready to go
down a giant waterslide,
and it says: FRIENDS DON’T LET
FRIENDS DO STUPID SHIT ALONE.
Inside, she wrote: Let’s do
something stupid together.
Te amo, Monica.
Dad follows that up with
one of his own—a generic
birthday card decorated with
pink roses, and too few candles
to accurately represent the day.
Inside is a twenty-dollar bill
and: Roses are pink, money
is green. I can’t believe my
little girl is seventeen.
Happy birthday. Love, Dad.
PS: Don’t spend it all in one place.