A Happy Birthday

On Sunday, I found out at church that my friend, Elida Norton, and I shared the same birthday. She is a lovely lady and speaks very good English. She is 72 years old. When we first arrived in Buenos Aires, the Elders introduced her to me and she said she would take care of me at church and in Relief Society. So she has kind of taken me under her wing. She invited us for dinner at her house last night, so we could share our birthdays together. Her two daughters and husbands, and four granddaughters, were all going to be there. We were so excited to go. I was looking forward to it all day.

She cooked a delicious dinner. On the table to eat before dinner were bowls of green olives, cubed cheese (which was wonderful), slices of a beef stick type meat, and tiny round rolls. Then she served a green salad. The main course was chunks of meat in a gravy sauce (kind of like a stew) with small slices of carrots, onions, mushrooms, and other things. It was just wonderful and so flavorful. A scoop of mashed potatoes was next to the meat. For dessert, one of her daughters made individual peach cobbler type pastries and it was served with a scoop of ice cream. Everything was soooo good. THEN, we had the birthday cake. We were stuffed.

This is Sister Norton and her two daughters. The oldest is on the left and her name is Silvina. Her other daughter's name is Andrea, and her husband has been called to be a mission president in Mexico. They start in July of this year. She is only 40 years old. She speaks Spanish, English, and Italian. Sister Norton's background is Italian, so Andrea studied the language on her own. Sister Norton married a man from California (her second marriage) and lived in the U.S. for a while, so that is where she learned English. After he passed away, she moved back to Argentina.

The man on the left is Brother Spanos, who will be the mission president. Their two daughters, in the back next to Andrea, are adopted. Each time her sister became pregnant, Andrea adopted a child, so they each have a 12 year old and a 9 year old.

She only had two candles, one for each of us. The other lady is Sister Barne, who is her good friend and a member of our ward. The cake was chocolate with a small amount of an apricot filling. It was really good. She had tied a brown ribbon around the cake. Happy Birthday was sung in English, Spanish, and Italian.

Sister Norton's apartment is on the 12th floor of her building, and the view was impressive. I asked if she could hear the traffic on the street below, but she said it wasn't too bad. But, there is a train that is annoying. We heard the train during dinner, and it was noticeable.

It was such an enjoyable evening. She said we would have to celebrate again next year. So there are nice people here in Argentina, and she is one of them.