I love celebrating my birthday. When I turned 60 I celebrated all month by planning different events on Facebook. What fun it was to see everyone.

My son is visiting this week so we are having dinner and breakfast. He has so many people to see that he has started grouping everyone by locations. I have tagged along while he had coffee with friends that I knew, too. Kids he grew up with are now grown and some have their own children. My, how time has passed quickly. I am sure my own mother says the same thing about me.

My birthday is September 2 which means I was a New Year’s Eve or Day gift nine months later. My father was a radio and television man hosting shows. My mother fell in love with his voice, she says.

My mother is from Mexico and I was born in El Paso, TX. I am an anchor baby. Living so close to the border was a grand way to grow up bilingually. Relatives visited frequently. As people move away from the border, the more anglicized they become forgetting how to speak Spanish or that they have Mexican roots.

My children have names in Spanish. My daughter saw that a signed or the Declaration of Independence has the same last name as her father. She thought being Mexican was analogous with the gangs and would rather identify with the Mayflower.

I always asked my children not for gifts, but a picture, a poem, or a story. I have been delighted with those gifts. We all have enough stuff and don’t need more on a birthday. We had a category called, “I love you presents” for anytime without needing a celebration.

Another interesting fact is that my mother was born on Christmas and I was born on Labor Day. My daughter often has a birthday on Thanksgiving and my son was born the day after Valentine’s Day. We are holidays.

In closing, I enjoy birthdays–yours and mine. Let’s celebrate.

I love celebrating my birthday. When I turned 60 I celebrated all month by planning different events on Facebook. What fun it was to see everyone.

My son is visiting this week so we are having dinner and breakfast. He has so many people to see that he has started grouping everyone by locations. I have tagged along while he had coffee with friends that I knew, too. Kids he grew up with are now grown and some have their own children. My, how time has passed quickly. I am sure my own mother says the same thing about me.

My birthday is September 2 which means I was a New Year’s Eve or Day gift nine months later. My father was a radio and television man hosting shows. My mother fell in love with his voice, she says.

My mother is from Mexico and I was born in El Paso, TX. I am an anchor baby. Living so close to the border was a grand way to grow up bilingually. Relatives visited frequently. As people move away from the border, the more anglicized they become forgetting how to speak Spanish or that they have Mexican roots.

My children have names in Spanish. My daughter saw that a signed or the Declaration of Independence has the same last name as her father. She thought being Mexican was analogous with the gangs and would rather identify with the Mayflower.

I always asked my children not for gifts, but a picture, a poem, or a story. I have been delighted with those gifts. We all have enough stuff and don’t need more on a birthday. We had a category called, “I love you presents” for anytime without needing a celebration.

Another interesting fact is that my mother was born on Christmas and I was born on Labor Day. My daughter often has a birthday on Thanksgiving and my son was born the day after Valentine’s Day. We are holidays.

In closing, I enjoy birthdays–yours and mine. Let’s celebrate.