Last Sept. 29, my parents held their 50th
wedding anniversary celebration at a hotel in Quezon City. They renewed their
vows in a mass held at the poolside of
the hotel. It was drizzling but the whole ceremony was solemn and nostalgic.
With my three siblings and their spouses, together with a few close friends and relatives
witnessing the renewal of vows, I tried to imagine their wedding 50 years ago.
How fortunate for us children to witness this once-in-a-lifetime moment in the
lives of our beloved parents.
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| The Wedding Invite |
It was a well-attended event. Most of those who
came are relatives from Malolos, Bulacan- our hometown. My mother's longtime
friends from La Suerte where she used to work also graced the affair. A very
special guest, my uncle Tito Tab from Canada, was one of the biggest surprises. He came with his wife Tita Opay
and gave a short speech during the reception.
My brother Benjie did a great job in hosting and
entertaining the wedding guests with all his funny anecdotes and witty spiels
only he could pull off with resounding success. He elicited laughter every time
he threw those punchlines.
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| The Wedding Venue |
A good friend of ours, Goody, sang a couple of
songs -”Ikaw” and “April Love”-my parents' theme song.
A special AVP prepared by my nieces Jackie and Gia
briefly chronicled our family history
through pictures and music. Watching this, I felt quite old but it also
reminded me that we've gone through a lot of good times and bad times together.
It also showed the expansion of the Cruz family tree as my brothers and sister
began to build their own family.
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| The Renewal of Vows |
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| The Wedding Cake |
Finally, all of the four children, including
myself, each gave a speech as a tribute to our parents. Benjie spoke on the
dark period in the family when my mom suffered a stroke in 2001. Bernard
reminisced his childhood growing up in Manila in the early 70s, and looked back
at the beginning of his dream to be an architect upon seeing the construnction
of our first home in Malolos. Pinky narrated her experiences when Mama lived in
America in the early 90s and Tatay took on the responsibility as a hands-on
father. For my part, I shared about how we learned to be independent at a time
when both my parents were working and struggling to make both ends meet. Yet in
spite of that, it is to my parents' credit that the four of us overcame the
odds and managed not only to succeed but to make a difference in our lives.
“Congratulations on your golden year, Mama and
Tatay. You have made us proud to have you as our parents because you have done
a great job in raising a family that's sticking it out together through thick
and thin. Thank you for all the love you have shared through the years, even
though most of the time I was not worth it. Your love will be the legacy for
many generations of Cruzes to come We love you both very much.”
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