Last night, the doorbell rang and it was Paisano and Patti, who entered my house with this gorgeous bouquet, singing “Las Mananitas.”  Kristina, who is watching my house while I’m in the States for a month, joined in. So sweet.

Then at 7 a.m. this morning, after the man I’d called to drive me to the airport  loaded my bags in a hard rain and we were starting to drive away, Yolanda and Oscar showed up two hours early for work and handed me a box. Inside was this lovely rosary. “It is handmade—for your protection,” she told me.

Although my birthday is actually tomorrow ,what a lovely birthday it has turned out to be, even before it has started.