On being thankful for friends

I just had my sixteenth birthday, and today my fingers itched like they always do when I know I need to write. I've been thinking about how much fun I had on Friday, (my birthday) when everyone came out to the house to celebrate with me. I'm horrible about writing thank you notes, horrible in the sense that I just don't do it. But today I really wanted to write thank you notes. If I did write thank you notes, I would write them my own way. Some of them would thank people for their thoughtful gifts, but some would just thank people for being who they are. After the party, my dad made a comment to me about my friends and how they are all really great. I must say that I definitely agree. So, even if in the following, I don't mention you by name, thank you anyway. Thanks to those who were there on my birthday... and thanks even to those who weren't for just being in my life. OK, here it goes:
Thanks to my parents for letting me have my friends over.
Thanks to Katy and Devon for being my friends and standing by me for so long.
Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for surprising me by coming down from Michigan on my special day.
Thanks to Logan for my song, because that was one of the things on my birthday wish list. Wait!!! Story: My parents had been repeatedly asking me what I wanted for my birthday. I told them I wanted a pet fish and a tree to plant in the back yard. They just didn't seem to think this was good enough, so they kept asking me to think of more things. Then, my mom and I found the video online from the Guatemala trip with Logan playing his ukulele and singing the song he wrote about Kyle. It made me laugh so hard I cried. So, the next time my parents asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I simply told them that I wanted a fish, a tree, and a song written by Logan and that was it. They complained saying that they had no control over whether Logan wrote me a song or not. I just laughed and smiled, knowing full well that I'd be happy with whatever they really chose to get me, but not telling them this. Then, it turned out that I really did get my fish, (who by the way, I will be naming Leo, when I finally pick him out), my tree, (it's a weeping cherry), and my mom wound up asking Logan to write me a song for my birthday. Therefore, I am spoiled and happy and very thankful for Logan and his creativity. It's definitely on the list of 'best gifts ever'.
Thanks to Drew for playing your guitar during Logan's song and for telling me HAPPY BIRTHDAY over and over again.
Thanks to Beth Swango for your kind and touching words, they really meant a lot. Geez. You almost made me cry on my birthday!
Thanks to Sarah and Alexis and Emmy for always being there for me and being amazing friends. Much love.
Thanks to Sean for the thought put into the sunflowers and star-cookies, which are very tasty by the way.
Thanks to Brian for assuring me that I'm "kind of in-between"...I'll take it.
Thanks to Jaymen for dancing with me while we played island tag, you're always making me laugh.
Thanks to Eric for keeping me humble by obliterating me in red rover. Seriously, don't feel bad, my foot will be fine someday :)
Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to know me well enough to know that all I needed for my birthday was candy and reading material. Oh! And I almost forgot the SINGING CARDS!!!!! They are amazing and had nobody been watching, I probably would have sat there opening and closing them as fast as I could until the batteries died.
Now last but not least, Thanks most of all to GOD for blessing me with this plethora of awesome friends whom I love very much.

So, my 16th birthday was all that I dreamed it would be and more. The only thing that could have ended the day better would have been dancing and singing in a gazebo with a blond Austrian, like in Sound of Music but that's okay, there's still time. I'll be sixteen going on seventeen for a whole year, ha ha.