Becoming seven-and-a-half does not mean that you are any more likely to eat pizza without getting sauce smeared all over your face, nor does it mean that you will suddenly care a bit if you do. It doesn’t even mean that you are suddenly able to convince your younger sister to sit patiently in your lap for a half-birthday photo.
It does, however, mean that you can stand up in front of a crowd and play a rousing solo of “Old Joe Clark” – the hard version, not the easy one – and end it with a “shave and a haircut – two bits” to thunderous applause, play some pretty good defense on both the basketball court and the indoor soccer turf, and cook your own skillet full of eggs and sausage when you return home from practice ravenous with hunger. It means you are taller and straighter and smarter and funnier and quicker than ever, and changing right before our eyes.
And you are most certainly justified in choosing the banana split to celebrate. Happy Half Birthday, sweet girl.