IT WON'T be long now. In less than two years I will be touched by Midas and will officially be a member of the gold ring. Precious. But before that happens, I will be enjoying the compulsory celebrations of those who are a few months older than me. If I get invited, that is.
And I was invited to one, Rodney’s. Apparently the weekend soiree at their home was just one of the many celebrations honoring the celebrant.
 |
| Rodney & Rochelle |
 |
| Good-looking siblings, Ariana & Robertino |
I was looking forward to this particular gathering for the very reason that I know it was going to be fun, just like the other parties in this house. You see the well-mannered tete-a-tete early in the evening will eventually lead to clearing the central area of the living room to make room for the dancing shoes after a few swigs of the evening’s intoxicating brew deeper into the night. When Rodney starts to manipulate the stereo system— that’s the cue.
 |
| The del Rosarios- Raffy, Aina & Anthony |
Yup, the celebrant did feed the CD to the system and turned the volume a few notches higher but no dancing this time. Were the ladies were disappointed? I don’t know. There will be another day to “trip the light fantastic”, to use a term from the 70’s, the era when the guests present were starting to troop the “discotheques” wherever they were at that era.
 |
| Fadgie Angala, Mitzi Jaldon, Rochelle, Chin-chin Santos & Maritoni Alvarez |
For the men in the house, they were on another kind of trip—a trip along memory lane. In the company of friends he grew up with, the gathering went purely catching up and reminiscing about their days in high school and college.
 |
| Rodney with his college buddies, Mike Zara, Dino Bate, brother Raffy del Rosario & Christopher Peralta |
 |
| High-school batchmates: Floyd Gamir, Rico Oñate, Miko Aquino, Ramon Dominguez, Albert Garcia & Lindy Carillo |
I believe it will be the same when it’s my turn to hit the big five-o. Ugh, that’s half a century, but somehow I don’t feel it. Maybe I am with the right company.
Happy birthday Rodney and to me, you will always be the declamation champion you were back in grade school. Is it too late to say congratulations?
For more lifestyle & travel stories, visit http://apples-and-lemons.blogspot.com/ and http://jeepneyjinggoy.blogspot.com/
Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on September 22, 2013.
And, they celebrated with Rodney on his big five-O.
 |
| Mia Floirendo & Dennis Santos |
 |
| Clockwise from top left: Baby Jaldon, Miko Aquino & Anthony Angala; Annie Cacho-Garcia & Gerry Romero-Salas; Gerivic Cabreros & Bobby Castillo; Rico Villareal & Cong. Karlo Nograles. |
 |
| Clockwise from top left: Rochelle with Joana Alpapara & Pia Lu; Glenn Soco, Rodney & Danny Valdez; Andrew Pineda, Binggoy Montemayor & Alex Ronquillo; Maritess Pineda, Martha Pineda & Long Pineda |
 |
| Imee Garcia, Felina Pineda, Maritess Pineda, Jenny Garcia & Malouchi Gahol |
 |
| Jorge Garcia, Popong Reta, Paco Mendoza & Ricky Pineda |
 |
| Cherry Jaldon, RK Dominguez, Kara Francisco, Mylene Aquino & GJ Romero-Salas |
.jpg)
