Anna turned 18!

安娜18岁了！ 2月1日是安娜的生日， 时间过得太快了， 如白驹过隙， 安娜已经成年了。 生日这天是周四， 安娜可忙了，我早早起来给她做了生日早餐·。她白天上学，放学后要去位于Carlsbad 的 Sage Creek High School 参加 Academic Team 的竞赛。安娜前一天问我和daddy是否要去看他们比赛？ 我的公司就在Carlsbad， 和daddy一商量， 他说早上送我去上班， 下班时再去接上我去撮晚饭， 然后7点半去看比赛。安排完美， 老两口一起约会晚饭后，时间还早， 又去附近的Costco 逛了一圈，准时到达比赛地点。等了十几分钟，Torrey Pines Sr team 正式登场， 教练开场白，感谢我们俩 （Mr Ding and Mrs Ma) 不远二十迈赶来看比赛，很是意外。然后是每个队员做自我介绍， 又是意外惊喜，每个队员都用一个形容词祝安娜生日快乐， 这个场面好温馨感人了。 比赛结果是TPHS以悬殊的比分大获全胜。 比赛后安娜又和同学出去喝奶茶，也不知道她几点回家的。第二天周五晚上，邀请Rebecca一起去Sushi· Ota 吃晚饭，俩孩子吃了套餐Omakase， 我和daddy点了 appetizers, OTA B, and Unagi Don, 都好好吃啊！ 晚饭后回到家， 和纽约Boston的哥哥姐姐一起唱生日歌吃蛋糕， 十八岁生日就这样过完啦！十八岁虽然是个大生日，可是我也没有感觉有啥特别的，即使成年，孩子在俺眼里永远是孩子。 唯一让俺感觉有些不同的是收到医院的邮件， 提醒我安娜的medical record 将变成private， 我再也看不见了。

Time flies and Anna is 18 years old! February 1st is Anna's birthday. Her birthday fell on a Thursday, and she would be very busy with school activities. I woke up early to make her breakfast. She had school during the day, and after school, she had to go to Sage Creek High School in Carlsbad to participate in the Academic Team competition. The day before, Anna asked me and daddy if we wanted to go watch their competition. My work is in Carlsbad, so after discussing it with daddy, he said he would drop me off at work in the morning, pick me up after work, we'd grab dinner first, and then head to the competition at 7:30 PM. The plan was perfect. After our dinner date, with time to spare, we went to Costco nearby and arrived at the school on time. We waited for about fifteen minutes until the Torrey Pines Senior Team officially took the stage. The coach thanked both of us (Mr. Ding and Mrs. Ma) for coming from twenty miles away to watch the competition, which was a pleasant surprise. Then each team member introduced themselves, which was another unexpected surprise: each one used an adjective to wish Anna a happy birthday. It was so heartwarming and touching. TPHS won the match by a large margin. After the competition, Anna went out for bubble tea with her teammates, and I don't know what time she came back home. On Friday night, we invited Rebecca to join us for dinner at Sushi Ota. The two kids had the Omakase set menu, while daddy and I ordered appetizers, OTA B, and Unagi Don. Everything was delicious! After dinner, we returned home and sang Happy Birthday and ate cake with David and Leah who did it virtually from New York and Boston.

Although eighteen is a big birthday, I didn't feel anything particularly different. Even though Anna is legally an adult now, in my eyes, she is always my child. The only thing that made me feel a little different was receiving an email from the hospital, reminding me that Anna's medical records would become private, and I wouldn't be able to see them anymore.