From Nong Testa-Feliciano: I agree with Alice that the reunion week was a BIG BLAST!!! Alice and Bobby took over the kitchen immediately for fear that they will be “gutom” if they did not cook, being helped by strong and indefatigable CORA G, grating the harvest papaya, “stolen” from a good neighbor friend. Seeing all of you brought back many happy and naughty college memories. Seeing Nitz Veloso with her unstoppable June and forever so fashionable clogs; Sandy “golf with a pain in the butt" Valdez; Trining( soooo afraid to lose weight from her big toe), asking Gene to leave her behind as she continues her fun weekend with Connie;Presy and Ed (so afraid to gain weight on their big toes), Eloy wth her 4 in heels while a few of us could hardly walk with a “tukod”, Manolo who loves his lechon with “nanginginig” pork fat; Caloy who was so worried abut the CD's he forgot; Roger who had to smile while doing the barbecue because Ed Holgado was carrying everything from his house to cook at Cecil's mansion; Jeffrey Antle, our "foreign" host who had to put up with Cecil's perfectionist attitudes about hosting this elite group; Ging Salanga who was worried that the hotel might be overbooked, so he was the first one to pay and who forgot to bring IMODIUM in his luggage; Mayette who drove sideways (East to West) with Chit and Nick Noche to make it on time.
It was nice to see newcomers Bert Almeda with his wife who had recently retired to plant pomelos in the hot sun of Florida; Tony Baluga with his graceful wife, frantically looking for a target to shoot; Zinnia, who kept memorizing the lyrics to her compositiion; and Nabal taking pictures of her practice and inserting his own Karaoke practice in between; Marybess masterfully hitting those high C's but having senior moments. Of course, we could not get lost because we always heard Danny Deaño's , and Nora Sessom's crunchy laughter with sweet Leila and her Visayan mini-gang ( Cecil and Helen) trailing behind him, and dancing the night away.Danny did wonders with his APOS-TOLIC presentation with necks stretched to make sure they didn't miss their apos’ pictures.
There were those who provided unlimited smiles like Tony and Rose Penilla, Connie Torres, Ed Ladlad with his teenage wife (Nelia), Mely Almonte and Libby Apellido who constantly was humming a catchy tune, Ernie and Ella Go, Lilian and Mauro Obrero.Of course who can forget Jovie and Pete (ELVIS) whose gyrations shook the whole floor together with the incessant laughter; Sotie Fabella who dared not miss the reunion under a veiled threat from Pressy; and Cecil who has the memory of ten elephants while the rest of us could hardly remember our names, much less who our spouses were.It was one of the most important nights in our life: meeting old friends( literally) and still liking them; incessant laughter with much gas going around to light up the room; walking on the beach with different (seasoned footwear) clogs, sapatilla, funny looking shoes; Watching the beautiful sunset; Visiting friends home and stripping the ylang ylang trees naked and hiding the picked fragrant flowers in our funny hats; laughing for no reason at all; almost bumping to Heaven guided by Sister Alice's prayer; unforgetable weekend made possible by Cecil and Jeff, Pressy and Ed, Cora and Roger, Sandy, culinary useless Nong AND Dido's dedicated "FOREVER YOUNG" to all Medicare recipients; and of course we must never forget the unannounced appearances of Maggie Antle.
These are the memories we cherish. With love, cheers and hugs from my heart to yours, till we meet again, till we see all the others who we missed; if I forgot you, it is because you were not crazy enough like the rest of us. |
