When Lake Highlands resident Rosa Ben-Hemphill was growing up, she rarely had a birthday party. Her special day fell too close to Christmas to have a party all to herself.

So when she turned 60, it was time to “have an everlasting party,” she says. “What people don’t realize is that when you have a birthday, you give first because you give the party.”

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Ben-Hemphill decided to give first in the form of a book. She got the party going by publishing a compilation of stories written by her friends and family in a book titled, “Two Things I Will Always Remember about My Mother … That Encourages Me Every Day.”

Now the party will never stop — she registered the book with the Library of Congress so that each person who contributed will always have legal possession of his own work.

“It’s really neat because that means my 6-year-old nephew and my 4-year-old grandson are now writers,” she says. Ben-Hemphill gave a copy of the book to each of the “authors” and says she hopes the book will inspire people to pursue “their God-given talents.”

 For information, visit lulu.com and enter 711219 or 685279 to view the hard cover and paperback versions of the book.