Otanjoubi Omedetou

my mom and i went to a local hibachi steak house in yorba linda for dinner tonight. it's nothing fancy, just a small neighborhood place with about six grills, really friendly staff and pretty good food (although i did get a stomachache later from eating too much).

we were seated at a table with two women, four boys ranging from 9 to 18 and a man. at the table adjacent to us sat a couple and six teenage boys.

if i was sixteen again, i would've been in heaven.

over the course of the evening we learned that boys at each table were celebrating their birthdays. of course, the servers were very cute as they presented a sliced ice cream sandwich with a candle on top and led the restaurant in singing "happy birthday."what really got me though was that these "teenagers" weren't worried about how "uncool" it all was and instead embraced the moment.

considering where i would assume they'd want their birthday celebration - somewhere involving girls in mini skirts, a keg of beer and video games, i was pleasantly surprised to see that they opted to celebrate with their families and close buddies. now, i'm not so naive to think the alternative celebration didn't take place later that night or this weekend but still...teenagers can be so "anti" and to see the genuine laughter shared between these two different families was pretty impressive.