A CLEAN Birthday

Okay, the first BeachFest Challenge was to tell me about your favorite birthday in 300 words or less for 30 points toward the grand prize. Unfortunately, this round I only had one entrant. So, congratulations, Sarah Tipton! Below is her favorite birthday.

But before I let you read that, I'm also excited to announce the winner of Brandilyn Collins' book--Rebecca Burgener! Rebecca, email me your address at raleneburke at yahoo dot com and I'll get the book out to you ASAP.

Now, on to Sarah's favorite birthday!

My favorite birthday was my fourteenth. That year, I received one of my best presents ever. A clean room.

A few weeks before my birthday, I decided to thoroughly clean my bedroom. This meant emptying my closet, bookcases and every drawer and piling all of the junk in the middle of the floor. I planned to sort through everything and organize it back where it belonged. Except, this was me. I am not a neat and tidy person. So my bedroom was an ankle-deep sea of stuff. Looking back, I’m surprised my parents allowed me to have a slumber party that year. But they did. Four friends came over to celebrate and spend the night. We did the usual--pizza, movies, junk food. Since I am not a night owl, I was the first one asleep in my sleeping bag on the living room floor. I vaguely remember someone trying to pull me back into the party, but I’m not so nice during the dark single digits.

Of course, being the first one asleep meant I was the first one awake the next morning. Leaving my sleeping friends on the floor, I went to take a shower. When I walked into my bedroom, I found an amazing sight. Carpet. And a neatly made bed. Every single thing was put away. Pillows and stuffed animals covered my bed along with a sign: “Happy Birthday!” What an awesome gift.

Then I found a gigantic spider on the bathroom floor. Oh well. Balance in the universe and all that, I suppose.