The best (and most unselfish) birthday party I’ve ever been to.

When my daughter Audrie was about ten years old she came up with an idea and stuck to her word, even after we tempted to change her mind. While some girls have visions of beautiful fifteen’s or fabulous sweet sixteen’s, Audrie had a different thought. She wanted to travel somewhere grand when she turned thirteen. So she approached Mom and Dad a few years ago and presented us with a request; “Can you take me to San Francisco for my thirteenth birthday?” she asked. Well thirteen or not, Mom and I thought that was a pretty cool request. Even though this would be a huge financial stretch for us we thought the fact that she wants to travel was very bright of her. Having done some traveling ourselves we can respect the broadening perspective it gives you. With a few years of planning and preparation we just might be able to pull this off. Time passed and the desired destination changed from San Francisco to New York City. A couple of months ago we were getting ready to make the decision and invest in the airfare and hotel so we approached Audrie with a question. “Do you want all new bedroom furniture and a laptop computer, or do you want to travel to NYC?” She thought, long and hard for a few days and then returned with her final decision.

The past five days have been great. We have been freezing on top of skyscrapers, bouncing underneath the city on subways, eating dumpling soup in Chinatown, sampling as many pizzerias as possible, shopping on Madison Ave, people watching in Union Square, stuffing our face with cheesecake, dazzled by the lights of Times Square, walking our feet sore and nodding off in the back of cabs. We will never forget this time in NYC. Thanks to a thirteen year old who was unselfish with her birthday wishes. Happy Birthday Audrie, I love you and thanks for being a great daughter.

The funny thing is Alyssa who is eight says she wants to travel to Tokyo for her thirteen birthday! If I know Alyssa, that destination will probably change 100 times before that day comes. If not I better start saving now.

Special thanks to friend Jeremy DelRio for (my first ever) texting tour of NYC. Great recommendations man.