From my vague recollection of past birthdays, I would say that my 16th birthday rocked the most.

Maybe because it was the very first time I spent my birthday as a young adult, away from my parents for the first time and among hundreds of my schoolmates who threw a surprise celebration for me at the school retreat camp.

At midnight, they stood with candles in their hands, surrounding me in circles while singing the Happy Birthday song. That was AWESOME! Made me blush the whole time. I thanked my school “gang” profoundly who prepared for it and completely blindsided me while doing it.

There was no birthday picture taken because it was the era of the yellow screened Nokia 8210.