Daddy,

I am so happy and thankful that you got to your 58 years of age yesterday and my soul danced around the room where I was yesterday when I talked to you. I miss you. Sorry I called you after your bedtime, but know I'm so so happy that you took the phone with you to bed because you knew I'd call. I know things are not perfect, and for as much as you tried to keep us close when we were kids, me and my siblings have grown apart. Maybe further apart than our hearts can bear. But your voice and your funny comments remind me of how we can't go far apart enough to be separated. Thank you for the opportunity to enjoy them in the weekends. Sometimes I regret not spending more time together, but things that happened already can't be changed. Now that we're so far I wish I could hug you and maybe draw you. Just a piece of paper and some carboncillo, you know? or just a pen, like you'd use to draw us. Happy birthday daddy. I'm telling the story around, of how you also turned 11 years of survival from that heart attack. You and the doctor sharing birthdays in the operating room. I remember. I was 12.

I pray that I can hug you again soon. And see your face, since you don't love the camera and let the pictures for those, like me, that want to save life in a frame. You save it in your heart and in your stories. Happy birthday daddy. I loved our conversation last night.

Love,
La Mochu