Birthday’s are special because you only get to that age once.
After all, you can’t be 20, 30, or 40 over and over. That’s why one determined grandmother decided she was going to celebrate her 88th birthday in spite of the coronavirus lockdown while still remaining safe.
Norma Gregorio turned 88 on March 25 and her granddaughter Jessica Kerrigan helped things along by sending her a cake.
“Since we could not physically celebrate her birthday or bring her a cake because of the virus, I decided to order her a cake made out of flowers online, she loves flowers,” Kerrigan said.
But Gregorio had a surprise of her own when she sent the family a video message that featured her singing “Happy Birthday” to herself capped off by blowing the candles. It was also clear that Gregorio was enjoying herself.
“When she got the flower cake, she decided to record herself and send it to us,” Kerrigan recalls. “I thought it was so cute so I uploaded it to my TikTok not thinking it would anything of it. Next thing I know, millions of people are watching, commenting and sharing it.”
To Kerrigan’s surprise and delight, the TikTok video soon went viral and gained even more popularity when she shared it on Instagram. The Instagram video gained more than 75,000 views and hundreds of comments and well-wishes.
“I told my grandma that I was getting messages from all over the world wishing her a happy birthday, and she didn’t believe me, she thought I was kidding,” Kerrigan adds.
And Gregorio has continued to receive a flood of birthday messages since then.
“Every day I update her on messages and comments from people,” Kerrigan says. “I’ve gotten messages from some people who know her personally. I also told her Millie Bobby Brown from Stranger Things saw it, but she was more excited about her physical therapist seeing it!”
And according to her granddaughter, Gregorio is having a blast at her newfound fame.
“She absolutely loves the attention so much,” she says. “I told her she’s a star, and she said ‘No Jessica, I’m not a star, I am a galaxy!’”
Replaced!