MEDIUM RARE
Jullie Y. Daza
Reunions big or small are important as a marker of time – how many months, years since the last greeting, the last meeting, the last get-together.
In the last two years, we lost jobs, income, opportunities, colleagues, friends and lovers and other strangers, family members. We almost lost some memories as there were, seemingly, too many to keep.
Now that the worst seems to be over (?), it’s time to gather and be together again, if only to prize friendships and the remembrance of good times.
Thus did the man-of-few-words Frank E make up for lost time by inviting friends to a birthday party that was not his birthday, his birthdate being Dec. 18, but better late than later, so the invitation to lunch at XO Conrad was dated March 4. Call it by any other name, what it was was a reunion of our Tuesday Bulong Pulungan, which met every week from post-People Power EDSA in 1986 at Sofitel Hotel until the chain was snapped by COVID-19.
To reunite means to re-ignite the tender task of swapping gossip, opinion, news (better the unprintable kind). Of the kind that’s printable, Frank said his Rotary Club now meets Thursdays at Conrad Hotel. Mandy N, looking naked without her camera, has 200 rabbits to crow about, her new hobby. Rina D’s sporting all-white hair, so gentle it softens her face and makes her smiles glow.
Joy F had a cautionary tale to share, about a young man who stole all the data in Joy’s phone to clean out his bank account; NBI’s cybercrime section said he’s not the only complainant. On the bright side, Mina G’s recovery from an accident is near-miraculous: no therapy needed. Pete D’s ancestral home in Ilocos Norte has been converted into a museum and events place. Beth T’s daughter-in-law Sarah (wife of Erwin Tagle, martial arts choreographer for movies) and Sarah’s six-year-old daughter are the charming models in a toothpaste commercial.
Deedee S’ latest accomplishments revolve around grandson Disney, 4, who’s “big for his age!”; son David and his partner Kristin, who own a new bake shop called Sugar Mess; and daughter Sandee Masigan, whose XO46 Filipino restaurant is back to hosting wedding receptions for 50 and up.
Things are looking up!