A Lady Turns 60 In A Red Dress

Perhaps the most wonderful thing I have ever done for my mom was collaborate with the other siblings for a surprise 60th birthday party!

The whole family minus Ate Jing...

My mom turned 60 last July 1. But the planning started all the way to the beginning of the year. Last Christmas, in fact. There were some hectic calls between me and my sister, Janice, in CDO as my other sister is based in NZ and my brother is male. Hahaha. So the nitty gritty of the plans fell into our laps (my sister got the heavier end of it though, I only got the tail-end).

Janice (or Ate Jiji, as I would call her) took care of the bookings, the RSVPs, the production of the party favors (yes, she baked all 100 packs of goodies to give away AND managed to assemble the packaging composed of a 7-inch diameter round basket and red plaid cloth to wrap up the baked goodies), the birthday cake, the stage decor (a stage adorned simply with the numbers 6 and 0 made up of tiny ballons in 3 different colors) - which was pretty much everything! And yes, we ordered the balloons, in case you're wondering.

I, on the other hand, pretty much sucked at the stuff assigned to me. I was to take care of the thank you tags for the favors and the AVP. I delivered on the former, but not the latter. Yeah, I'm the bomb.

So, in trying to avail of the promo rate for the airline tickets, we (Mari, Pia, Micah and Ate Cheche) got the frantic pleasure of rushing to the airport at an ungodly hour of 2 in the morning. We got to CDO bright and early though and my sister came to pick us up. After breakfast in her lovely home, Pia and Enzo (my sister's only child, for now) going crazy playing and Micah laying claim to the couch for her morning nap, we finally got around to finishing up the party favors. Which took us several hours as some of them were just coming out of my sister's oven.

At the airport waiting for our 4am flight.

Blessing came in the form of a CFC Tito, who's also an ardent GK volunteer, who lent us his car for the duration of our stay in CDO. An extra car was a treasure! After preparing for the party which was to start at 6pm, I was holding back tears as black eyeliner was being applied when Mari, walking by, asked if i wanted to ride with my sister. Surprised that he would consider not driving me to the venue, I told him that I was riding with him as were our two girls. "Are you sure? It's a pick-up truck." Mari verified.

Uh-duh. Didn't we own a pick-up as our family car for at least 2 years?! I'm like the super pro in riding pick-ups!

Or so, I thought.

When I came out of the house, I stopped dead in my tracks. It was not just a 'pick-up' truck. Looming over me was this huge monster truck, all sleek and black. No step boards. And I had on a mini dress and 2-inch pumps. AND the rain had died down to a drizzle. Oh, great.

Challenge #1: The monster truck. My daughter, Pia, is tall for her age.

One of my aunts said from the back of the car, in a droll voice, "Yeah, Jaja, we literally crawled our way in..." Oh, heck.

Challenge #2: My mini-dress.

Climbing in was far easier than jumping out in 2-inch heels. I was either going to sprain my ankles or flash my undies to the bell hop. Thankfully, I did neither. My husband came to my rescue (after assisting my 3 aunts crawl back down from the truck - good thing they had donned on long pants, not dresses) like a knight in a shining armour. He blocked the most sensitive view from the rest of the world (yes, my husband's a giant). I managed to simply slide down with as much grace as could be possibly derived from such a situation.

Immediately, I bumped into a few grannies and gramps at the hotel lobby (who didn't recognize me right away either because of old age or because i looked like a film star that night - obviously the latter!) and hugs and kisses were flowing all around. I escorted my kids and The Seniors to the elevator up to the seventh floor while Mari parked the car. As we entered the ballroom, there were more hugs and kisses from old friends and relatives.

At 7 o'clock, my Mama arrived at the scene and entered the room to our loud "Surprise!". The look on her face was precious. She saw her 3 sisters (all the way from Cebu) and gave a cry! She saw me and the kids and couldn't believe her eyes (previously, we had given our regrets to coming home for a simple party that was to be celebrated in the house on the 3rd). She saw everyone she had invited for that simple party in the house and couldn't believe her eyes. Everyone was there except for the parish priest whom she had belatedly invited that morning when she was hearing her birthday mass at 6am. Haha!

The 3 sisters. With friends. With the children With more friends.

minus one.

After the whole birthday greetings, hugs and kisses, a patter of cries of delight, everyone finally settled down for dinner. After dinner, my Mama blew out her birthday cake and then sat down in the middle in front of everyone as her friends rendered a presentation that they had been practicing for several days now. Then there was singing and dancing.

Mama's walking group serenaded her.

That whole time, the kids were running around playing and dancing, too. Pia got too shy to sing for Nana (so she gave a more private presentation when we got home the next day).

The Grandkids. Left to Right: Enzo. Pia. Micah. Bea and Migi.

Missing: Mico (New Zealand) and Diko (Manila).

My other sister, Ate Jing, called after getting bored waiting for us to talk to her through chat during the party. She complained that all she got was a view of Migi's broad back. But she did see a bit of the action. That was the only sad thing about the party - that Ate Jing and her family were not around to celebrate with us. But we were pretty sure that they were with us in spirit. We had all anticipated this event.

Ate Jing was online that night, trying to get a glimpse of the action.

All in all, it was a success. The Lord made everything possible except for the video. I guess He has his reasons for that. But that video is soon to be posted in this blog, too. We couldn't let all the footage go to waste! We invested a lot of time and effort for that. So, when the Lord permits, you will be enjoying the clip sooner than soonest!

"They say to watch out for a lady in red..." But in our case it was so you could learn how a fine lady passionately loved and raised four children who love her back just as fiercely.

Happy Birthday, Mama.