Unsweet Sixteen

A disarray of giant white and pink balloons

lined the old dance hall.

Had the others asked for them?

Or had they been like me—

forced into the humiliation of a party I didn’t want,

thrown for friends I didn’t have.

It was like sitting alone

in the middle of prom.

Blast to the past.

Glimpses of a future wedding,

rushed out of desperation and time.

Sweet sixteen—

a picturesque postcard

of youth and fragility.

Thoughts of a childhood ending.

Thoughts of knowing it all.

A new era beginning.

Sweet sixteen.

Never felt so sweet.