For what would later become her final birthday celebration, Cristina was surprised by a heavy delivery of 69 roses to celebrate her 69th birthday. Her son Steven had borrowed the tradition after seeing photos of Cristina’s father doing the same for his wife (Cristina’s mother) Livia.

After a few minutes of happiness, the weight of the roses became noticeable leading to a comical situation where Cristina was pinned to the recliner under the weight of beautiful sweet-smelling roses. She could hardly bring herself to explain to the caller why she was laughing so much. If there’s one sound we have all heard very often, it’s that deep belly-busting laugh when Cristina is laughing so hard she can barely catch her breath.

Petty was staying with Cristina, as is her tradition during the month of May, and struggled to find enough vases to store all the flowers. Steven also brought a bouquet of 31 roses for his aunt Petty to celebrate Mother’s Day (and astute readers will notice this makes for a total of 100 roses, which suspiciously sounds like a wholesale discount coupon).

Later on the evening of her birthday, friends Ana and Walter O’Brien along with Betty Lopez joined Petty, Adri, Steven, and Cristina at her birthday dinner. Where else? Nick’s Pizza in Costa Mesa — one of Cristina’s favorite restaurants.