Birthday Blues And Adaline

In the past, feeling blue before my birthday was a convenient excuse I made up so I can eat and drink as much as I want to. This year, my blues were real, age has been catching up on me and I had health issues to deal with. In a span of three weeks, two of my friends lost their mothers, and my master tailor of eighteen years, Mang Roger died four days after having a heat stroke.
I was playing Ronan Keating's version of Won't Last A Day Without You on repeat mode for days, a feel good song that would hopefully lull me out of my melancholia. I didn't plan a big celebration, all I wanted was to hear Mass with my family and eat pizza, my birthday falling on a Sunday.

Saturday before my birthday, a dozen of my closest trooped to Poppins, my weekend hangout, to cheer me at the stroke of midnight.
Monday was dinner at the artsy new place Karnita's Corner with my dear friend Kasia Rei from Los Angeles who's celebrating his birthday two days after me. A joint celebration, we had an intimate group of supermodel friends from our generation, the great photographer Wig Tysmans and his charming wife Carole.
The following Saturday, Jenny Tan hosted a dinner in my honor at her beautiful home with a bunch of our wittiest and funniest friends from art and advertising.

In between all the pocket celebrations and sweet social media greetings, I forgot about my blues. Like in the film The Age Of Adaline, I realise getting old is not bad at all. Growing old with friends and family is the greatest of blessings.

Dinner hosted by Jenny Tan

A timely film for my blues, The Age of Adaline
http://www.theageofadalinemovie.com

Comments

The House Of Dr. Luis Santos

Our tour of Malolos continues, from the Cojuangco ancestral house http://myrefrigeratordoor.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-cojuangco-ancestral-house.html , our gracious host Melecio Cojuangco brought us to the house of Dr. Luis Santos. Mel arranged the visit with one of the heirs of Dr. Santos, George Imperial . From the outside, one would already be in awe of the sheer size of the house. The house was built in 1933, according to the marker by the gate. Upon entering, you will marvel at the grand staircase, the expansive receiving room and the foyer filled with hard bound medical books and mementos of Dr. Santos' career as a well loved doctor in this town. The second floor was something else, as our group slowly ascended the magnificent staircase, my heart literally skipped a beat at the sight of the ceiling mural and Art Deco details. We found out later that the mural was painted by the great Fernando Amorsolo himself. There was a private chapel in honour of Our Lady of Lourdes

The Cojuangco Ancestral House

Our next journey takes us to a historic town in Bulacan, thirty minutes north of Manila. My road trip buddies, my college friends who all share with me the same fascination for heritage houses were privileged by an invitation from Melecio Cojuangco to visit their ancestral house in Malolos. Mel, his cousin in law Marissa Lopa, Rima Datuin and Evelyn Bautista and I discovered each other's funny bone because of our love for the ice cream served in a huge bowl at Peninsula Manila's lobby. One evening, to justify our appetite, we pretended it was my birthday and we had the string quartet play happy birthday for me, from then on, we became good friends. Mel's grandfather, Jose Cojuangco was born at the Malolos house, very near the Barasoain Church. Jose's mother traded rice from Nueva Ecija, sacks transported by boat via the river at the back of the kamalig to Binondo, Manila. Like most turn of the century houses, the Cojuangco house uses piedra china stones f

Her Name Means Peace

I started blogging five years ago after reading the book Life On The Refrigerator Door by Alice Kuipers. So touched was I from the story, I named my blog My Refrigerator Door . Ms. Kuipers wonderfully weaved a story about a daughter and her mother who battled with breast cancer in a series of notes posted on the refrigerator door. Last Sunday, at the funeral of Tita Passy, Paz Cojuangco-Teopaco, I was reminded of that beautiful book. She too fought a long battle with the disease, but in her suffering, she has brought her family back together. I met the Teopacos through my good friend Kris Aquino . In one of Kris's anniversary specials on TV, I was introduced by Kris' mother, President Cory to her youngest sister, Passy. After that, I got to bond with Kris's cousins, Tita Passy's daughters, Marla and Rina in a summer trip to Mindoro. Sharing the same love for sentimental music, and deep affection for Kris's son Joshua , Rina and I became the b

My Refrigerator Door

Search This Blog