One of the things we’ve missed out on by living in the UAE for the better part of my kids’ lives is a connection to Mexico. It’s a fair trade off, as we’ve really strengthened the kids’ connection to Lebanon, but that’s for another post. If we’d been in the US all this time we would have likely visited Mexico a few times in the past 10 years, and my kids are sad that they don’t know my country as well as they could. So when Maya’s 15th birthday was on the horizon, she decided she wanted a Quinceañera. We chose to avoid the more religious aspects of it, and we de-emphasized the “coming out to society” message of the more traditional Quinces. Instead we focused on celebrating her connection to Mexico. It was a beautiful party.
