Birthdays Celebrated AGAIN!

saturday afternoon our neighbor came over and wanted to talk. when she left, she said that she wanted to come over again on sunday, in the afternoon around 2pm, because she had something else she needed to talk to us about. something serious. we really needed to be sure we were home, because she really needed to talk to us. we assured her we would be home. our only plans were to go to mass at 9:30am and my basketball game at 6pm.

saturday evening a different neighbor came over and hung out for awhile. the SHE proceeded to ask if we would be home tomorrow in the afternoon because she wanted to come over again and talk. hmm.....i became suspicious. we certainly spend time talking to each other, but because both of them wanted to be SURE we would be home and because these are the same people that threw a surprise birthday party for us last year.

sunday morning i woke up at 7am to "las mananitas" the traditional birthday song. at first i didn't think anything about it. my birthday was last sunday and they play las mananitas on the loudspeaker every morning at 7am for someone's birthday. but as i lay in bed listening i realized that the music was extra loud. hmmm....someone is right outside our front door, playing las mananitas. and sure enough, we got up to find our neighbors with their boom box, lots of confetti, "curtains" made out of tissue paper hung over our door, hugs and well wishes for us. we pulled on an extra layer, martin made tea, and we all sat on our front porch for an hour chatting and listening to a whole cd of birthday songs. sweet. early. thoughtful.

so this afternoon we made sure we were home. and what do you know, around 4:30p.m., four families from the neighborhood showed up with chicken mole, rice, and tamales. they also brought two musicians with them who accompanied the meal playing on their acoustic guitars las manaitas (traditional birthday song) and other very romantic songs.








we ate, laughed, danced (yes, martin and i danced!) and had birthday cake. blew out the candles, took a bite and got icing all over our faces, and then kissed - to everyone's delight. i feel like we've finally got the steps down! it was another wonderful gift. good to be with friends. thanks be to god.