What a great Mexican Independence day

Today my plan was to stay home and just be with the family. God had other plans. Today we were so blessed because our best friend "Pedro" had his birthday. I am not using his real name as well you never know. He called me at 3 and told me to come to his house "para cenar" (for dinner). I knew it was going to be a blast. We showed up at the scheduled time and I was amazed.

His wife "Janie" brought me out a huge bowl of posole. It steamed in front of me and I ate it happily with tortilla chips. That was a bowl of pure heaven. Then she brought out some tostadas de ceviche. I cannot believe the flavor it secreted into my oral cavity. I still drool when I think of it. She was so sweet and I realize I am so blessed. I have found a new culture that accepts me. They love every single pound of me and appreciates who I am. I digress however.

After everyone had gotten their fill of food we headed out into the backyard. They had strung up a huge pinata filled with dulces. We laughed out loud as all of us got a shot at the pinata with a baseball bat and we all sang the traditional "bate" song. Finally the pinata exploded and we all scrambled to our knees to get some of that precious gold. The kids smiled as they popped candy into their mouths and found pure happiness.

Finally we headed into the kitchen and I was kind of saddened that this evening had ended so quickly. We walked into the dining room and the cake was lit. They had placed a pratical joke on the cake and said he was 52 insted of 32. We all laughed as we sang happy birthday and cut the tres leches cake. They handed me a slice of heaven and I headed out onto the back deck to eat it. The sky was growing dark and the stars were starting to twinkle in the sky. In the corner of my eye I saw a shooting star. It was the perfect ending to the perfect day.

I know some days I moan and complain that nothing is going right. But then something as simple as a brothers birthday knocks me back into reality. Life is a gift. I am fortunate to have great friends that love me as a family. I am going to focus on the good things in life and try to keep on moving on. If we focus on the bad we will get what we focus on. By the way "Happy Independence day my mexican friends" I hope you all had a great one too.