It is my birthday. My 16th birthday, and I’d get to celebrate it with my family. Not my dad though for yet another year. It’s frustrating sometimes, him being a workaholic. He’s always gone on a trip somewhere making money for us. It’s great that he does this but today I miss him a little extra, on my sweet sixteen. He always sends cards through the mail for my birthdays though, so I grab them when I get up. It is hard not seeing my dad much so I do look forward to my birthday cards. A lot of kids never think about it like this because they see their dad all the time. It's normal to them. I stroll to the mailbox to grab the card today and. . . it isn’t there. Did my dad not send one? Maybe it got lost along the way. I go back inside to the kitchen to get something for lunch and my mom is preparing my birthday dinner for later tonight. She glances at me and somehow reads my mind, 

“Did you look for your dad’s card?” 

“Yeah, nothing in there.” 

She thinks for a second; “It could be running late today, I wouldn’t worry.” 

But it is always there on time, the past 5 years that he’s missed my birthday, it’s been there. I come back after I eat lunch to check for the card, before everyone comes over; still nothing. As I’m outside, my grandparents show up, and I force the smile onto my face as they see me. Soon, I’m eating dinner with my family, but I can’t help but wonder where the card is. It’s distracting me from the dinner conversations. Everyone else here is having a better time than me, on my own birthday.

 “Time for cake!” my mom yells, but she quickly gets worried as the cake isn’t in the refrigerator or freezer.

I should’ve seen this one coming, why would my mom remember to get me a birthday cake the same day my dad forgets to send me a birthday card? The doorbell rings, and my mom tells me to answer the door. I wander to the door, waiting to see kids running away that were messing with our house again. I peek through the glass, and see a man holding a cake. I realize it’s my dad! I swing the door open and he gives me a huge hug.

 “Happy birthday” he says quietly while hugging me. “I don’t have to go on another work trip for at least another year.”

I haven’t heard him say that before. He’s going to be working from home, and I’m going to have my dad back again. He even remembered my favorite cake.