The concierge asked, "What are you doing today?"
I answered, "Whatever my mom wants." That's a tradition in our family. The one who is celebrating chooses.
Mom's choice to review her ownership at Vidanta in Puerto Vallarta on October 15th, her birthday, was not what some members of her family expected, especially since her last update in Cancun was especially time consuming and unnerving. The hospitality team wanted to erase the bad taste in mom's mouth from her experience so the appointment was set and we met the marketing team at breakfast. The meeting did last a long time, mostly because there was so much to discern about her contract.
When the meeting was over we made our way to the pool closest to the ocean and relaxed. We ordered dinner at the restaurant by the pool as the sun was setting. Mom's stomach became upset after her meal. Her ankles were swollen. Then it happened, something that changed the mood of her birthday celebration. Her two front lower teeth disappeared when they cleared our table. We notified our waiter. He told us there were multiple trash cans where the missing dentures could be. That's when mom walked away. I lost sight of her. There were multiple trails and she was nowhere to be found. I returned to the restaurant in despair and found her on her knees searching through trash bags for two tiny teeth. The entire staff joined her and came up empty. We left the beachside restaurant with pits in our stomach.
The next day we ended up at the same pool. As we were leaving the pool one of the staff recognized my mom and asked, "Did you lose your teeth?"
"Yes," mom answered.
"We found them," the staff member declared.
We were shocked.
I asked to meet the person who found mom's dentures. Our angel, Gabriel, appeared from the kitchen. He found them with the forks that had somehow got stuck with the silverware and went unnoticed during the search.
"Es un milagro," I told the staff. "The whole world is going to know about this." I got permission to publish this story on my blog. One of Gabriel's teammates asked for the site so he could share with his friends.
"You're going to be world famous," I said to Gabriel while his proud boss was standing next to him. I snapped photos of the moment and we headed back to our room.
We snapped a photo of the moment mom got her teeth back. His name is Jesus.
We made our way to the convention center and joined my sister and her husband for the special 50th anniversary celebration dinner. Mom told me she was planning on soaking her dentures in her drink to sanitize them. Our waiter showed up with a bottle of wine and said, "Hello, my name is Jesus and I will be serving you tonight."
Mom and I were the last two guests to leave the party. Mom didn't want the celebration to end. She asked me to dance but I declined not sure the dance floor was best because of her ankles. Well, she moved like no other on the dance floor inspiring others to cast away their worries.
Our driver, Daniel, took us home on the last ride of the evening and dropped us off at building 3 where our upgraded room awaited.
My mom and our family are grateful for the people at Vidanta who are treating us like royalty. The icing on the cake was a note of gratitude from the staff offering a future flight credit for mom.
Thank you to all the staff including our angel Gabriel, the two people named Jesus, and Daniel who got us home. Have a great day.
"Hello, my name is Jesus. I will be serving you tonight."
Mic drop moment...Jesus pours the red wine.
Last video Mom on the dance floor celebrating her found teeth.
