prelude to bday42 for the first niece!

"You got plans tonight?" is how it all started.

I replied, "Just the usual Jalapenos with brothers and others."

Next thing I knew, she was coming to join us!!!

First, though, she had to meet her mom at 95 and 204, to drop off her daughters.

One of their cousins (Gabby) was having a birthday13 party and they were invited!

Hooray!

Plus, that meant Christina would wake up on her own time for her birthday.

Hooray!

 

So, first I went to Jalapenos of Sandfly for the Smiths & Kamerons Friday Fiesta!

That was my first time there in three weeks - que bueno to see everyone!

Well, all except Becca, who was off with other plans.

There's Smitty, Mark, Brian Schomburg - who just stopped by, knowing we'd be there - and Tony and Jimmy at the table's end.

Tony actually got to sit beside his wife tonight, due to the empty seat on the other side of the high top.

That meant an empty seat between me and Smitty - absolutely perfect!!!

 

By the time the food arrived, so had Christina -

absolutely perfect!

She told me she wanted the "chicken with mushrooms and onions and cheese" and Claudia knew exactly what they called it: "Cream Of Mushroom Chicken".

Hooray!

Then a curious thing happened: Betsy and Jimmy both started telling tales of her Papa as the hero who had saved them from big trouble.

Betsy spoke of a time at the pool, when a guy jumped off the diving board and was drowning; as the lifeguard, she went in after him, but he was so panicked he was drowning her, too; then Ronnie jumped in, pulling the guy off her and getting him safely out of the pool.

Wow.

I'd never heard any of the stories they told.

Those were from their teen years, and I had been away in the Navy, for boot camp, for training, and in Panama.

I hadn't realized that Christina would know the Kamerons, but she told me Betsy and Jimmy used to play cards frequently with her mom and Ronnie.  

I was away at grad school for most of that time.

 

So, as the storytelling came to a close, someone alerted the Jalapenos of Christina's birthday, and here they came, with the sombrero, with singing, and with tequila!

Hooray!

She took a moment to make a wish, shot glass in hand and eyes closed, then... 

uno, dos, tres!

Back that drink went in one smooth take!

Hooray!

Hugs of farewell all around!

Then she and I went to a movie, courtesy of an AMC special pass.

She opted for "Opus", the new psychodrama with John Malkovich as the religious leader of The Levelers.

I had been curious about it, but it turned out to be quite creepy, along the same lines of "Blink Twice" (but without all the sex).

Amazingly, she hadn't even heard of that Channing Tatum creeper, so now she has that to look forward to!

Oh, my, is it nearing midnight?

Time to wrap this up...

I'm calling to make sure she got home okay...

and to sing "Happy Birthday" to her!!!

What a lovely night this has been!!