The Birthday Dinner

  So tonight, family dinner was my birthday dinner.  I was really excited because my step-mom was making delicious fish tacos for dinner, and then we were going to have cake and ice cream, plus s'mores toasted over the fire-pit in the backyard.  (I <3 s'mores.  I <3 them so much.) 
  As we were sitting in the kitchen before dinner, Chris suggested I open my birthday present, which was weirdly heavy and sounded like sand when I shook it.  (My dad is notorious for doing wacky things with presents, so I figured he'd filled a box with sand and put a present inside.)  Anyway, I opened it up, and drumroll please...!  It was a box of dishwasher detergent.  Now if you happen to be up on my current events, you know this is a REALLY weird present, as my dishwasher broke some time ago, and fixing it is on the very bottom of my to-do list.  I gave my dad a bit of a quizzical look, but before I could ask what the deal was, he said it was for my new dishwasher.
  I must have still looked confused, and at this point my brother Tony jumped in.  Apparently, he and my dad got into my house on Friday while I was at work and replaced my old dishwasher with a MUCH nicer edition, only a couple years old with twice as many features as the one I'd had.  They did this on Friday.  FRIDAY.
  I hadn't even noticed.

  At this point, everyone could tell that I had no idea what my dad and Tony were talking about, and I got deservedly teased quite a bit.  But honestly, I didn't feel so bad about not noticing the new dishwasher.  (After all, why would I pay any attention to a broken appliance?  It's not like I randomly load it every few days just to see if it magically works again.)  I couldn't help feeling guilty, though, about how epically AWESOME my dad is.  I have been a little bummed out this weekend, like my birthday wasn't important (Which normally doesn't bother me at all...  I don't know why this year was different.).  And then I find out I have been walking past this amazing gesture all weekend, and didn't even notice.  Not to mention the sushi dinner on Wednesday and s'mores over an open fire...  I really, really <3 s'mores.

  I guess the moral of my crazy story is just that my dad is pretty much the best.  I don't feel like I even deserve all the help he gives me.  But if I try to tell him that, he always tells me he's proud of me anyway...  And I know he means it.  That's actually better than a dishwasher any day.