OLD FRIENDS AND NEW BEGINNINGS
The reunion has come and gone.
Judging by the laughter, the banter
and the camaraderie that we all enjoyed, the 30th of December marked
a truly successful affair. To those who
attended, there was a joyous feeling in seeing old friends whom we had not seen
in years. The embraces were warm and
the smiles genuine on the familiar faces, now showing wrinkles, framed by hair
with tinges of gray.
The reunion event may have been a
source of nostalgia for most, but for the organizers, like myself, the planning
of it all meant even more. During the
1999 mini-reunion, we all agreed that the year 2000 one would be grand,
especially since it is our 35th anniversary. We also agreed that in addition to the
reunion, we ought to establish a Foundation that will carry out our worthwhile
objectives, not only for the school but also for our classmates who may need
help over time. We felt that, if our
goals were this impressive, we had to work hard at raising funds to achieve
them. We initially agreed to meet
monthly, but eventually graduated to bimonthly meetings as the occasion drew
closer.
Rose Balajadia-Estrabillo, now an
elementary school principal, was unanimously voted as the reunion committee
president. The core members of the
committee, Edith Estandarte-Reyes, Erly Aquino-Estandarte, Elsie Tiqui-Lumbo,
Mars Morales, Didi Domingo, Ging Feliciano, Mila Lingat, Vangie Peralta and
myself, took turns in hosting the meetings.
Some classmates also joined sporadically. These included Benito Velasco, who was always there whenever
circumstances permitted; Joseph Deang, who volunteered (and got!) the lechons
for the occasion; Luisito David, now a Pepsi executive, who so generously
donated all the announcement streamers and the softdrinks during the affair;
Dodo Ocampo, who provided the mostly colored jokes during meetings he attended
and as a result, was made to be the emcee for the reunion as punishment; Jimmy
Tecson, who attended only once but agreed to become historian of his class and
also, ended up editing the articles of Tony Miranda and Ike Gamboa for the
souvenir program; Almario Santos who always lent a hand to the logistic needs
of the Pampanga group; and, of course, Enrie Figueroa-Manabat and Lin
Manalastas-Castro who threw in ideas on how to make the reunion more
organized. As you could see from this
list, the meetings were always well-attended by quite a number of classmates
that helped us organize (And, at times, dis-organize) the meetings. As our friend, Jimmy Tecson once said in his
emails, it was a big wonder how we were able to accomplish anything and to
overcome the loud voices in the meetings within meetings. Rose, our soft spoken president, had to make
use of her principal/teacher method just to tame this rowdy little group. And when all else failed, my booming voice,
trained in all those declamation contests in high school, came in very handy,
indeed. Add a dash of my masculine
personality and PRESTO! Everyone started to listen.
On the other side of the world,
Marilyn De Castro-De Guzman volunteered to make a website for the class of
65. Because of this, we managed to form
a long list of people in the e-mail loop, all excitedly talking about the
reunion, among other things. Danny
Galang suggested that we have a Souvenir Programme that will monumentalize all
the past reunions. It was prerogative,
of course, that we also include all our high school pictures. Together with Edna Dayrit-De los Reyes, they
committed to solicit funds to finance not only the production of the programme,
but also the establishment of the Foundation.
And, they did! In one of my
trips to the U.S., I kidded Mike Panganiban about funding half of the reunion
expenses. It was a hinted suggestion
that elicited a favorable response to my great delight. I realized too late that all this support
that I solicited and got quite easily, would create the compelling pressure for
me to work had on all the projects as soon as I got back home - the reunion,
the Programme and the Foundation.
And, the excitement began! Every planning meeting was something to look forward to. I sometimes thought that this reunion would be the last we could ever organize this well because of the obvious memory lapses that some of us are starting to experience. If we’re becoming this forgetful now, how much more difficult will it be in 2005? There were some complaints about the time spent in calling up classmates who wouldn’t return calls, but there was also the joy in meeting old friends who showed so much eagerness in being located. Lolita Mendiola, for one, fast became a phone pal and even lent me her Pampangan Graduation issue, a real treasure. This made the reprinting of many old articles in the Programme possible. During our phone conversations, I remember we talked about our high school days, about who our old crushes were and who the good looking guys were, our teachers, the high school jokes, the famous bloomers and how the guys would ogle Myrna Ronquillo’s legs. We talked about the quarrels among the boys, the exclusive cliques, the high school programs and, of course, we also talked about what became of all of us after we left high school.
Jun-Jun Restaurant in San Fernando was
our favorite meeting place. We would go
there before it opened and would ask the manager to open it for us. We enjoyed the pancit bihon ala panciteria,
chicken barbecue, bibingka and the halo-halo.
In the meetings, I was clued in on all the past but still juicy stories
about who went steady with who, the love triangles (Right Erly?), some sad
stories I’d rather not remember, and also stories about each other’s
families. We forged friendships to
higher levels, all due to this reunion planning.
As time passed, we realized that we
had started speaking in one voice and that we had begun understanding each
other better than ever. When the
reunion finally came, we just knew everything would go well. It was a day so well planned, that we did
not even need compliments from classmates for all our efforts. We did it because we wanted to and, as a
reward, we became better persons and better friends. That is something no one will ever be able to take away.
Reunions
are not merely for a single day of fellowship.
I prefer looking at it as beginnings of the process of renewing old
friendships, finding lost friends and meeting new ones. I think, Albert Schweitzer said it best when
he said…
“Sometimes
our light goes out but is blown into flame by another
human
being. Each of us owes deepest thanks
to those who have
rekindled
this light.”
Lisa
Lopez-Valerio