happy birthday to me

1 ( 1999 )

bouncing baby girl

with more cake smeared on her cheeks

than on the high chair

3 ( 2001 )

my sisters stayed home

daddy took me on a date

i'm a big girl now

7 ( 2005 )

mom let me invite 

ten girls over for a spa day

only nine showed up

12 ( 2010 )

the party's cancelled 

because dad lost his job &

balloons cost too much

14 ( 2012 )

eighth grade crush brought me

chocolate, flowers, love poems

we held hands at lunch

17 ( 2015 )

seventeen matches
on my cake because no one
remembered candles