I have just arrived in Huntsville,Alabama -- have not even unpacked. My two suitcases are still unopened in the garage. Flew out of Las Vegas yesterday evening, and arrived in Nashville, TN this morning, then drove the 2 hour drive to Huntsville. Managed to squeeze in four hours of sleep and a shower, and was ready to see patients again at my clinic today, Monday, August 7, 2006!
How I wish we could , as one classmate verbalized, have a reunion everyday. I think everybody will agree that the time spent with classmates in Las Vegas was well worth it! Everybody had lots of fun. In fact we had so much fun and were so loud that we got a hotel security guard sent up to us on Thursday evening August 3 to warn us that there were complaints from other guests about the noise, and the following morning as we were enjoying a buffet breakfast at the Imperial Palace Hotel, the restaurant manager approached us and requested us to reduce our conversation volume as again she was getting complaints from the other patrons. ( I would have gladly posted bond if they had come to arrest me - since as president of the group, the buck stops with me!)
From different areas of the U.S., British Columbia, Canada, United Kingdom, thirty five (35) class members of the CPU High School Class 1972 converged in Las Vegas to do what we do best - P A R T Y !! Thirty four (34) years after we graduated from CPU High School, we were finally seeing each other again, some for the first time. No wonder I could no longer recognize Tessie Saturnino - it has been thirty four years since I last saw her, and boy, have there been positive changes!
We had good intentions as far as a morning program goes, but because we had stayed up so late that first evening together just chatting and having fun, our next big get together was on Friday evening, August 4, at the PAGTILILIPON at Nene Orlina's house. Catered by Fiesta Filipiniana, the party was intensely enjoyable, with delicious food, karaoke performances, deep conversations among several classmates - plus the required CLASS MEETING during which the class members formalized our organization, finalized and approved our constitution and by-laws, and ratified the guidelines for the Benevolence Fund. The term of office for officers was set at 2 years, beginning August 2006. It was also agreed that the next global reunion will be in July 2008 in Mission,British Columbia. Our hostess Charito Carnaje is requesting everyone to take a week off! The reunion will last a whole week and will include fishing, fly fishing, clamming, oyster picking, and lots of sightseeing!
During the PAGTILILIPON, T-shirts and mugs commemorating the Las Vegas Reunion were given out by Joshua. Fredgel distributed T-shirts sent by our Philippine Classmates. We were able to talk by phone to our Philippine counterparts who had also gotten together in Iloilo City. Thank you , Philippine Classmates, for your thoughtfulness. We love the T-shirts!
Friday morning August 5 we had the Hoover Dam tour. Mr. Porfirio Mayordomo, who is now 90 years old, honored us with his presence. The group thoroughly enjoyed the Hoover Dam tour. Personally I was in awe of the project and was impressed with how a vision and a remarkable engineering feat resulted in taming the Colorado River and generating hydroelectric power utilized by three states - California, Nevada and Arizona. Truly it is one of America's Seven Modern Civil Engineering wonders. Sammy T. kindly assisted Sir Mayordomo during the tour. I could personally vouch for Sammy T.'s wheelchair manuevering capabilities! The tour bus almost left without Lina Agreda who was buying a souvenir Hoover Dam cap at the gift shop for Sir Mayordomo. From there we stopped at the Ethel M Chocolate Factory where we all enjoyed chocolate samples and purchased some to bring home. For those who were interested, there was also a self-guided tour about how chocolates at the Mars company (owners of Ethel M) are made.
Friday night was the thoroughly enjoyable Dinner Dance at Fong's Garden Restaurant. The program consisted of a devotional led by Ruth Dorillo-Taglorin, Welcome Remarks by myself (as group president), and remarks by Fredgel Padernilla, Mr. Porfirio Mayordomo, Mrs. Evangelica Padernilla. The suprise event of the evening was the proclamation of Mr and Ms. CPU High School Class 34th Year Reunion: Miriam Javier de la Fuente and Joshua de Leon. Bases for the selection: the great enthusiasm and hard work displayed by both class members , and their significant contribution to the actualization of this global reunion 2006. The Crazy Santa exchange gift was fun as well -- Elmo Familiaran and I ended up exchanging gifts. I got the Rutgers University sweatshirt he brought and he got the NASA sweatshirt I brought. Becky, Lina, Racquel Clemente and myself participated in a birthday skit and the June,July, August 2006 birthday celebrants joined in afterwards to help blow the candles on the 50th birthday cake (a delicious mango cake ordered from Goldilocks, Las Vegas, Nevada). Fredgel read a letter
to the class from Jeremy Bionat, President of the CPU HS 1972 Alumni Association in the Philippines, and Luis Espino added some remarks of his own. Capping the event was dancing and more dancing -- featuring our talented dance guru Gil Assin with multiple very capable dancing partners including Valerie Diesto, Miriam Javier, Wendelyn Baloyo.
Maybe because everybody was so exhausted from the previous evening's activities, some people failed to wake up on time Sunday. A little more than half of the group joined the early morning worship on Sunday August 6 at a picturesque park close to the home of Melvin's parents. Rev. Elmo Familiaran led a worship service that touched the hearts of all who were there. Classmates who did not manage to wake up and attend, you missed an excellent sermon shared by one of our own. Then Melvin took us on a Red Rock Canyon driving tour, and several of us enjoyed lunch at the Fiesta Filipiniana restaurant afterwards, courtesy of Sammy T.
It is hard to capture in words the joy of meeting classmates again, the thrill of reuniting with barkadas, best friends, former loves and crushes, the delight of getting to know the spouses and children of our high school classmates and hearing about what has happened in the intervening years... You have to be there to really know the absolute exhilaration that filled the air, to feel the palpable excitement of all the participants....
I know others will also record their memories of this thoroughly fun and memorable reunion.....I declare the 34th Year Reunion in Las Vegas a resounding success. Thank you to all those who have worked so hard to make it so.
Before we know it it will be 2008, so after a couple of weeks' rest, we shall embark on preparing for our 36th Year reunion in 2008 in British Columbia, Canada.