Every year since they first got together in November of 1999, Vanessa Bryant and her late husband, basketball great Kobe Bryant, have celebrated her birthday. That’s 21 years of birthdays and looking to the future. This year, Bryant celebrated her birthday, not alone, but also not with the longtime partner she has called the love of her life.

The mother of four rang in her 38th birthday alongside her three remaining daughters.

Bryant’s daughters Natalia, 17, and Bianka, 3, and Capri, 10 months surprised their mother with flower arrangements and an abundance of piñatas.

“#CincodeMayo #TacoTuesday #micumpleaños 🎂 Thx to my girls for ordering these flowers and piñatas for mama. ❤️😘,” Vanessa captioned the photo featuring her celebrations with her daughters on Instagram.

Vanessa shared more of the sweet celebrations on her Instagram Story and boy, did her daughters go all out for her birthday.

Vanessa Bryant Instagram
Vanessabryant/ Instagram

No doubt, Bryant, who is is of Mexican descent, has an undeniably special birthdate considering it lands on Cinco de Mayo.

Bryant also shared a photo of a sweet card from her oldest daughter, Natalia that hints at the closeness of their relationship.

Vanessa Bryant Instagram
Vanessabryant/ Instagram

“You are strongest person I know and I am so grateful to have you as my mom! I will always be the Ethel to your Lucy!” Natalia wrote on the note.

It’s been nearly five months since the tragic death of NBA great Kobe Bryant and his similarly talented daughter Gianna. Grief still lingers for their loved ones left behind however and recently, Vanessa Bryant was reminded of her tragic loss once more as she was forced to celebrate her own birthday without her late husband and daughter.

Still, despite their noted absence on her big day, Bryant was given an emotional surprise that, while bitter, seemed very sweet.

On May 5th, Bryant celebrated her birthday and shared a special surprise from her day on Instagram.

In a post to her Instagram page, Bryant revealed that before her birthday, she found an envelope addressed to her and from her late husband.

“Yesterday I found an envelope labeled To: The Love of my Life. From, Tu Papi I waited to open one more letter on my birthday. It gave me something to look forward to today. The irony is that Kobe had a photo of me drawn with an Angel holding me up by an artist on the cover. Missing the Love of my Life and my sweet little Mamacita- my fellow Taurus. Grateful to wake up to my 3 sweet girls today. Wish we were all together,” she wrote in the caption.

Bryant kept the message left behind for her private, but we can only imagine how emotional her experience in reading it was.

Bryant’s surprising post comes just a few days after she celebrated her deceased daughter Gigi’s birthday. In a caption about her birthday, Bryant encouraged Instagramers to “consider wearing red, caption an act of kindness or show how you will play Gigi’s way since she always gave everything she did her all and led with kindness.” She also asked fans to use the hashtag #PlayGigisWay to join in celebrating her daughter while also sharing an image of a special bracelet with her daughter’s nickname on it. “We are in the process of making this bracelet available for proceeds to benefit our Mamba and Mambacita foundation. I will update you with a post when we have them available for purchase),” she wrote.