According to Zenaida Seva, who was a real astrologer and not a “manghuhula,” the Philippines is a Gemini country. Independence Day is June 12, and if a survey were to be done, it would show that more of us citizens and residents, including the national hero Dr. Jose Rizal, were born in June than any other month.

For example, my immediate family (not a big one) means five of us June-borns.

Eleven days ago, June 14, the family, friends, and admirers of Princesse Fernandez gathered at dinner time to remember her on her birthday and celebrate once more her graciousness, her intellect (right brain and left brain), and most of all for her niceness as a person and personality. Princesse was a Mensa scholar as much as she was well-versed in the classical lore of feng shui. But we lost her, too soon, she was too young; we consoled ourselves with the thought that our loss was heaven’s gain.

Princesse’s brother, Patrick, who came to town from California to join the dinner hosted by his mom’s Yin and Yang Shop of Harmony, reminded Horse-year birthday celebrants, “You’re a Horse. This is a Horse year but it’s a Fire Horse.” He repeated, “Fire.”

Dr. Nemy Platon, who owns a maternity hospital in Batangas, was seated beside me and heard Patrick. She said it was a good sign, Horse or whatever, that young women seem to be more patient nowadays about having a baby. “I would say they’re willing to wait, what’s a year or two?” she said.

Is it a matter of their willingness to wait, Doctora? Could it be due to their insistence?

As my grandmother would have put it, in her own flowery language, every baby means its mother losing a flower. In less poetic language, how many blossoms can a young lady afford to lose during her child-bearing years?

Shakespeare put it this way, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art fairer than the darling buds of May.”

One reason I insist on young people learning their Shakespeare! After all, wasn’t he the same guy who said, “Who loveth, if not love at first sight?”

Okay, okay, I hear you! To quote Shakespeare is to give your age away...