UVALDE – A birthday bash was held in Uvalde Sunday night.
It was a night to remember and celebrate at the American Legion.
Monica Gallegos was surrounded by family and friends to celebrate her daughters Angeli and Annabell’s upcoming 11th and 14th birthdays respectively.
”It feels very great and exciting that...it’s a blessing to have everybody here with us tonight,” Monica said.
For Angeli, it’s her first birthday without her twin sister Annabell.
It’s a birthday bash in Uvalde for Angeli’s 11th and Anastasha’s 14th birthdays. Right when you come inside, you see pictures of Annabell. This will be Angeli’s first party without her twin sister. @ksatnews pic.twitter.com/bxtoFkcoOp
— Leigh Waldman (@LeighWaldman) November 28, 2022
Reporter Leigh Waldman asked Angeli what her favorite part of the night was and her response was simple: “Annabell.”
Angeli said she could feel her sister there with them.
It’s a feeling shared by her older sister Anastasha.
“My friend had took a picture of me before everything, before we got dressed and my picture glow. And it was like a, like a yellow and you could see her face in it. And then earlier this morning, Lidia had told me, ‘remember Bell is always with you.’ And when I saw that, I felt like she was there,” Anastasha said.
Across the pink and blue decorations and the crowd of families laughing and dancing, Annabell’s pictures stand watch.
On the back of their shirts, she’s smiling with her forever love Xavier Lopez.
“Annabell was my daughter-in-law. She still is my daughter-in-law,” Xavier’s mom Felicha Lopez said. “I feel very special that they honored Xavier along with the girls. I feel very happy and I feel the love.”
The love the two fourth graders shared is remembered forever.
As is the love they have for the ones they left behind, the ones they watch dance the night away for Angeli and Anastasha.