January 16, 2023, Monday, a local holiday in my beloved San Pablo City. I visited my high school batchmate Rose SJ Lanuza in her house at Brgy. San Benito, Victoria, Laguna. Just like me, she was alone tending to her orchids and looking intently at her house as she is going to Australia and would stay there for quite a while. “I will miss all of you and the good times we had together”, she said referring to our HS Batch 1968. Then she wiped her face with a towel obviously wiping her sweat that mingled with her tears I supposed. SS
Since we celebrated our batch Golden Anniversary in 2018, we regularly met to share wonderful stories of our family life, of our humble achievements as parents and of what more is in store for us in the near future. There was so much fun and we saw how much time changed between each of us – from sporting long black hair to short gray one; wrinkled skin; bended back; limping walk; blurred vision; dental loss and the maintenance of medicines for hypertension, diabetes, and other illnesses. All these did not deter us from seeing each other regularly until the pandemic stopped us.
Our Class President Norberto Belen who is currently in the USA continues to monitor all of us through social media always making sure that the OIC he appointed in the person of Ruel C. Alimario is doing his best to keep the Batch intact. With less than thirty persons to “watch” who are all cooperative and disciplined, everything is easy for Ruel although sometimes, he spent his own money just to make sure that any agreed event will push through.
With regards to the venue for big events like Christmas Party, our Class Valedictorian Legor Mendoza, who is currently the Barangay Chairperson of Brgy. Sta. Rosa in Alaminos, Laguna, allows us to use her farm including all the amenities therein for free. Every moment we share together wherever we choose to go are treasures no amount of money can buy. These are reflected in all the videos and photographs stored in our mobile phones. Thanks to technology, the memories we created are deposited safely for us to revisit when we feel like it.
Rose SJ Lanuza is aware that technology is evolving and sooner or later, all our videos and photos will be erased or removed to give way to something new so she made a very wise decision. She secured hard copies of chosen photographs from our affair in 2018 up to the present, arranged it according to dates and events and placed it in thick photo albums for posterity. She spent a lot of money for it but it’s worth it, she said.
True enough, as I turned the pages of the album Rose made, I felt I was traveling down memory lane reminding me of the hardships, challenges, achievements, failures and successes we went through before we reached this point in our lives. Many of us did not make it this far because they died young so we agreed to spend more time together while we still have the energy and time to sing, dance, eat and travel. Life is short as we all are aware of so we better make the most out of it like keeping photographs and souvenirs.
Melinda Bagsic Evangelista
I was born to write and I believe that’s my calling. I love writing because it brings me to the realm exclusively of mine. It is also my opinion that “immortality” can be achieved not by searching for the Holy Grail and drinking from it but by living your life worth-writing or writing something worth-reading. Since I cannot promise you a life worth-writing, I keep myself busy writing something worth-reading. I am thankful to God for giving me the talent and skill to see life in different perspectives not seen by many and the courage to share it to my readers. This first ever Tutubi Digital News Magazine is a perfect avenue to bring you the many facets of life that you can ponder upon in this time of the pandemic. Enjoy reading all the articles.
