Cuban Birthday Party in Miami

I met Lina months ago at Smith and Wollinsky, one Sunday afternoon, and she said we were gonna be "best friends!"  And she was right...we have had a special bond since then, and a lot of fun times..  She is a divorced mother of 2 beautiful daughters...older than mine though...like one is a lawyer, married and going to have her first baby, and the other one is some kind of an electrical engineer (?!)...I was like WOW! This beautiful girl is an electrical engineer!!!??? Her sister was like, "I know... She gets it from my dad." The younger daughter was with a boyfriend...I was amazed! Looking at them, they are in a whole different stage than my girls...it was a little strange, but a view of what is to come, and a bit comforting, I guess.

Tonight was Lina's Birthday Party...50!! I turned 49 this year...never really thought about how I would celebrate my 50th...or how great 50 can look, or who I'd want to have there, but she said to me tonight she would give me some good tips, and she told me she LOVES everyone who is there...I think that is the most important, and that she FEEL genuine love back, which I believe she did!  And she made 50 look fantastic!!

It is so awesome to have great friends at this stage in my life, who are the same age, and going thru the same things!!  I really didn't feel like I had that until I moved back to the US...most of my friends in Panama seemed to be going thru something very different or were marginally younger.  Which brings us back to the idea that we "attract what we are,"another thing I learned first from my mother.  Also, divorce didn't seem to be as common there as it is in the states...from what I noticed, men or women would stay in an unhappy marriage, for the sake of the kids and/or the assets, more frequently, and then supplement their sex-life with a "friend."  ...thinking my 'frequency' may have been off when I was in Panama or something, or what I started to feel was just that "there's no place like home," and THANK GOD that frequency is back on working again in South Beach!!

Well, tonight I got to experience a proud "cuban" woman celebrating her life with her big cuban family and friends...I was the first one there...like I said, I always like to get to events early when I am alone or don't know a lot of people (or like tonight, when I'm not sure where I'm going), because then I have the best chance of meeting more people!! She asked why I didn't bring someone with me since I didn't know anyone...truth is, I feel this is about her...I wanted to get to know HER family and those who are important to HER.  Everyone was very friendly and danced like crazy...Pictured above are her father, mother and brother, Mario.  Lina told me the story of the place where we were, but it was a little loud, so I couldn't hear her very clearly, but it had something to do with a Cuban man who escaped Cuba with all of his artwork, Cuba Ocho Museum and Performing Arts Center, Just a beautiful place in the middle of the famous, "Calle Ocho," (8th street).  His artwork is now displayed here, in the place where her dinner party was with dj, and then live music, and a lil of her brother playing the drums!!

...then true to form, like Cinderella...I get in early, but I also get out early...so caught my lyft ride home at 11 or 11:30 to get me home by midnight, so I can enjoy the next day...Hopped in the car, and this always happens...the driver looks at me, and confirms..."to South Beach??" ...and it sounds kind of magical, so I reply, "YES!! Take me back to South Beach!!"

Went straight to sleep when I got home...and then again I woke in the middle of the night too excited to tell you my story...now I hope to go back to sleep!! xx