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Thursday, February 24, 2005
Magsaysay: Triple New Year blasts
By Jo Magsaysay
Whatever
Must be one of those things…only one of those crazy, fabulous things when I come upon three of its genre in one week. Three celebrations of Kung Hei Fat Choi exploding one after another, I’m beginning to roar like a waking dragon and crouch like a sleeping lion…You see? All that wining and dining have so addled my brain, I’m getting paranoid and believe everyone is greeting me: Hey!
Fatso!
***
Fine calligraphy, Chinese brush painting on red parchment rolled in a scroll set the elegant theme of the Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corp. premier celebration of the Chinese New Year at the Shangri-La. A stunning ice sculpture of a rooster reminded the guests that this is a year to crow cock-a-doodle-doo about. Add the clincher, the ceremonial tossing of fish salad where thin slices of salmon mixed with finely-minced vegetables, each color and each vegetable symbolizing good health, prosperity, purity, courage (I have now forgotten what I had elaborately described last year).
Anyway, the higher the salad is tossed into the air, the higher the achievement of good fortune.
So, there they were, armed with chopsticks, Warner Manning, Tim Wright, Margot Osmeña, Amparito Lhuillier flaying the salad, Manning and Wright tossing the salad so high it seemed to take flight and soar heavenward. Auspicious signs for great prosperity and good fortune for HSBC and Shangri-La, I daresay.
***
A frenetic schedule during the week left the Mannings quite breathless but their Cebu stopover was a welcome respite. We love Cebu! the HSBC Premier First Lady avowed. Julie Manning looking even lovelier than when Cebu saw her last was warm and gregarious, confiding a harrowing flight from Baguio in a rattletrap that was practically antediluvian, a sign overhead a shelf read “for hats and head gear.” Stopping up on stage she joined her husband in a sassy cha-cha, cuddled up to him for a photo shoot by Chinggay U. and Honey L. Last time we saw Mr. Manning he was doing a mean mambo with Vernie Varga which was unforgettable. Elevated to being addressed “His Highness” by emcee Marissa Sanchez (a better singer than comic), he confessed to being a dragon to Julie’s monkey which is a most fortuitous union it seems, particularly for this year of the rooster.
***
So, who else were there? The omnipresent Amparito L., Teresin M. (she along with Lolly Diez and Carla Alegrado were among the raffle prize winners), Marissa F. and Elvira L. Moya Jackson…a little old lady with a lovely string of pearls whom I sat with, Mercedes Chua, Aldena Uy, pretty soft-spoken daughter of an old friend, Milagros Flores now residing in America…Margaret Gaisano-Ang, Nonie Uy flying off to the States for the wedding of her son, Jojo…Mary Ann Aboitiz Arculli in the throes of publishing the next issue of the Maria Luisa glossy Gracious Living...a peck on the cheek from Benny Sala hurrying home to Gemma; will corner them both one of these days to tell me more about their daughters who, I heard, are brilliant scholars now gainfully employed in China and London (is it?)…Deena Pages who is doing Shangri-La’s landscape as well as other resorts in the vicinity… Paul Yen and his delightful wife, Peachy (she’s Mario and Maricar Mendezona’s precious peach) and he, I heard, is quite a gourmet, a long-time resident of Shanghai who is, as all gourmets are, most discriminating…Vivina Chiu Yrastorza taking a breather from her clinic…Margot O. really quite sweet giving up her place in the queue to a senior citizen (age before beauty) recalling to mind Dorothy Parker’s ascerbic quip…
***
It’s my birthday. So what? I am 84 years old and I don’t want any fuss and bother. No party.
Bah! Much ado about nothing. Atty. Antonio “Nene” Solon was vehement. Alita, sweet and gentle Alit, was even more impassioned. The Lord has given you a new lease on life. Every year is a gift.
Every year is precious. Let us all give thanks for the miracle in life. Let us celebrate. Be surrounded by people who love you. Let us all embrace you with our love.
***
The loving persuasion, naturally, won the reluctant Nene over so let there be a party. Not a blast. Not a wingding. Nothing grand, just family and friends, just the closest and dearest. Like boyhood pals, George Dosdos and Jess Gaboya from way back when they were grade school chums in San Carlos (Leo Casals, the fourth in the group, is in the States). The “barkada” Jorge and Purie Oñate, Victor and Marilou Chiongbian, Minnie Dosdos, Tony and Rosa Cohon, Rodin and Fanny Ramos; the Solons, Lourdes Noriega, Beling Sonia Crispin and Niting Villarosa, Etot and Thelma, Nene Castro…their son, Eurico and daughter Didi flying in from Manila with husband Al Medina and two sons, Aaron and adorably precocious tyke of four and Axel, two. The Medinas count 10 branches now in their chain of sizzling seafood which owes its huge success to Didi’s special barbecue sauce. Didi it was who conspired with elder sister Agnes (Mrs. Keith) Ashby to make their parents’ golden wedding anniversary last December a monumental and meaningful celebration, memories of which will linger a lifetime. A keepsake that I will treasure is a laminated wood chest enclosing a beautiful golden rosary of tiny rosebuds.
***
The heartwarming sight of Nene and Alit among their loved ones strikes a resonant chord of Didi’s words. “Together, they have a grown as one while maintaining their individuality. They have not only enriched each other’s lives, but also those of the people around them…They have taken each experience of conflict and pain and made it a chance for growth, they have seen though each dark cloud, a ray of sunlight and they have transformed each other’s weaknesses into strengths so that they may live more Christian lives…”
(February 24, 2005 issue)
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