Celebration of Life

On Friday I attended a Celebration of Life party thrown by some friends of mine. A long table with colorful tablecloths was set with chips, green chile salsa, a corn and vegetable dip and whole calabacitas (squash) for decorations. The decorations were all from their garden. A round table had wines and a fruit platter. The first serving was a delicious tostada; crisp corn tortilla with pork, potatoes, shredded lettuce and a cream sauce. That would have been an acceptable dinner and plenty for me, but then out came a plate with Chicken Mole and rice. The mole was authentic from Puebla, Mexico. While we ate, there was conversation and laughter all around the table.

When the meal was completed and the dishes cleared away, the two daughters came out with their violin and guitar. They are accomplished musicians and entertained everyone. Soon, their friends from Holy Family High School joined in the singing and most of them pulled out their phones and googled the words to some of the songs. The young voices harmonizing was beautiful and I heard that the group belongs to the choir at Holy Family. Three persons were celebrating birthdays and Happy Birthday was sung in English and then the traditional Spanish song, Estas Son Las Mananitas was sung while all three blew joined to blow out the candles stuck in a pan of chocolate brownies.

As some of the people got up to leave, we were told to hang around because a Mariachi group was scheduled to arrive.  Before long, a young group in the traditional outfits of black and silver arrived. There is something about Mariachi music that touches the soul and when the two daughters joined the group it was extra special.

The Celebration of Life became a Birthday and an End to the Summer Party. I had a very enjoyable time and my thanks to my friend, her husband, her daughters, and her lovely friends for making the evening so beautiful.

I had fun photo bombing my friend and her friend. I wonder if they even knew I was behind them!

There are two ways

to live your life.

One is as if nothing

is a miracle.

The other is as if though 

everything is a miracle.

Albert Einstein