(Top picture. Left to right: This is my mother as a very young woman in Cuba. In the middle, it's grandmother Adelina. To the right, it's her older sister, our very dear, "always smiling" and incredibly wonderful Aunt Lidia!. The second picture is mom and dad during their honeymoon!)
In our case, it's always easy to remember our mother's birthday.
She was born on May 10th or Mother's Day in the Spanish speaking world.
Our mother celebrates # 80 today. And she looks great! She spends her days now keeping track of all of the kids, big and small.
On behalf of everyone, including the 9 grandchildren, we wish her a happy birthday and Mother's Day.
My mother is always full of anecdotes about her beloved hometown of Ciego de Avila in Cuba. It's a picturesque small town with a park, colonial streets and those traditional churches. She loves her hometown!
We heard about one of her favorite places, "El Centro Asturiano". This is where she and my future father went dancing during their courtship!
"El Centro" is where she and Aunt Lidia went to eat, play and hear "Asturianos" talk about the mother country. It must have been fun for a couple of Cuban girls of Asturian descent to hear about Spain!
She had, and continues to have, very strong political opinions.
Where do you think that I got my conservative views from?
She always reminded us to support the political prisoners, like my dad's Cousin Ignacio who spent 14 years in Castro's prisons.
Last, but not least, there is always music at my parents' home.
My parents have many musical interests, from dancing to Cuban rhythms to a little "paso doble".
My mother loves to dance!
My parents used to dance a lot before the 3 kids came along to take up so much of their time.
We will dedicate a couple of tunes to my mother on such a special day. Let's start with Los Panchos singing Agustin Lara's "Palmera". I'm sure that this tune, and the words, will remind our mother of those tropical breezes in Cuba:
She loves Benny More's music. My mom and dad danced at Benny More's concerts years ago! The first video is "Soy Guajiro", one of the many Benny More tunes that my parents danced to. The second video is "Siguaraya" and it has a bunch of images of the old Cuba that my mother remembers:
