Talking parenthood @ Eastwood

At Eastwood last night, Chief and I caught up with friends who were really proud parents. Picture show (top row, left to right), Gerber's friend, Gerber, Chynna, Guy, Cesar and Me. Seated (left to right) Marie, Marivic and Cecile.

Marie Datu-Mamawal had gone shopping with her “kids.” Gerber (my inaanak) was drinking Coke. I told him, “Sige, get one beer. Okey lang iyon.” Marie would say that he would still drive and Jovy wouldn’t allow it. I proudly showed the red Adidas tennis shirt I was wearing, “Paki sabi kay Jovy naka rd ako” as San Beda was the repeat champion of NCAA basketball. Gerber is taking up Marketing in San Beda.

Marivic says that she allows her “kids” Miguel and Ia to drink at home. Miguel, also my inaanak, is now is Ateneo. Chief was pencil-pushing the cost of tuition fees. Around 70k per semester!

Later, Chynna, also arrived with a guy in tow. “Nangliligaw pa lang” whispers Marie to us. He snaps this picture of us as Marie and her kids had to leave early. Both Marie and Jovy’s kids have picked up tennis and would probably wipe out Chief and I out of the court in straight sets!

On the ride home, Guy was also talking about his only daughter, Bea, who was turning 19 in a few weeks. He shares that she had just broken up with her boyfriend. I can imagine she is a lady now in the campus of St. Scholastica!. She is taking up journalism. Probably, she has her own blogsite here?

Chief and I are still a long way from parenthood... and would need all the help and insights from family and friends.

When would be the next Parenthood 101?

Smile, Camera and Action

The shoot begun at around 1pm, after lunch and moving into dessert. We cleaned up the mess on our dining table, except for the brownies and donuts. None of the guys chose beer. Preferred red wine. Monch picked up my digital camera and took footage. Maybe, for You Tube?

Matess asked questions that probed into the past. And the response of Bob, Cesar and Amvic proved to be both interesting, enlightening and even sentimental. But as honest as my friends can be, Chief and I were glad that they were around and sharing their thoughts about us.

Chief and I listened, specially, when each gave a “message” for us. Amvic reminded us to have God’s presence in our lives. Cesar and Bob joked about the long journey that we took…the long procession that finally led to Chief and I walking down the aisle in Saigon.

We popped two bottles of red wine. “Antares” from Chile. Actually, Merlot (2006). And “Stone Cellars” by Berlinger. Again, Merlot (2004).

If Bien Perez, my best friend, based in HK, were around, he would have given us lessons in Wine 101!

And CG must be smiling too!

Email Journals

Matess Salviejo (yup, the famous sister of Beverly Salviejo) arrived at our Greenhome around noon for the second part of the “Mel & Joey” shoot at our Greenhome. She and her crew had lunch at Don Bosco’s Amici. (Although, now, not really managed by Bosconians).

Immediately, Monch exclaimed, “Bob, kailan mo ako dadalhin sa Amici.” Then, Marivic furthered Monch’s agony by saying that pasta at Amici was really good. Photo shows Cesar and Marivic looking at old photos from....

Matess asked us to sit around the dining table, like a barkada enjoying red wine or coffee and good old kuwentuhan. While Matess would have wanted more friends around, our 55 sqm condo couldn’t accommodate the extra heads. Earlier, Chito, Guy and Meldy had sent their “regrets.”

I brought out the old photo albums and “email journals.” Yes, probably, one treasure of our relationship is our “email journals.” There are now 7 books (or editions) of these journals, which are simply print copies of our email exchange from late 2000 up to our first weeks in Vietnam. Photo shows Bob Novales looking at old photos from Marivic's birthday back in the mid 80s.

We had it “soft-bound” in Saigon. And the little creative effort of my part was to put “chapter” breaks… which were simple print ads from foreign magazines.

Last Friday night, as Chief and I were preparing our Greenhome, I had uncovered more hard copies of our “email exchanges” from 2000 which have yet to be compiled, labeled and hard-bound.