Of reunions, memories, and mortalities
(First of two parts)
By Marivir Montebon
New York – December holidays are usually made of school reunions. With digital technology, a global reunion is possible nowadays, such as our December 1 Ruby Jubilee. Forty years after leaving the portals of Colegio Dela Inmaculada Concepcion, the oldest Catholic girls’ school in the Philippines, my high school batch ‘83 gathered for our reunion in Cebu, New York, and Los Angeles.
40 years later, a reunion in Cebu, New York and Los Angeles of Batch ‘83 of Colegio dela Inmaculada Concepcion, the first Catholic girls school in the Philippines. Founded in 1880, CIC is now co-ed at 143 years old.
The synchronized gatherings were carefully thought of and carried out, considering our diverse and hectic schedules. But it’s the excitement to meet that made us participate with glee. In Cebu, the center of the celebrations, batchmates Bee Luna-Ciriaco, Janet Villa, Martha Alvarez S. Canda, Azon Lee, and a whole team of stirrers led the programmed activities.
Remembered this. Jackstone, my only ‘sport’.
On social media, we were able to connect and walk down memory lane with the creativity of dear Janet who posted smart Bisaya memes that triggered our memories and conversation as early as September 2023. There were memes on homeba, sagboat, jackstone, do you lick the thread while threading, did you pray to God for you to grow tall? (yes, I did, and I didn’t grow tall), what’s your favorite candy that’s no longer in the market, etc. Batchmates from Canada, US, and London chimed into the memory lane memes.
The New York version of the reunion, posing in front of the Saks 5th Avenue 2023 attraction: a collosal zodiac carousel by Christian Dior and Saks.
Artsy inmaculadistas doing water color painting in Cebu. They have time for this.
Some batchmates went artsy too before December 1. They did some water color painting sessions (with lots of talking) at the cozy health store of Josine Climaco-Marzo in Mandaue City, curated by Janet who’s a great watercolor artist, other than being a church leader and lawyer.
Prior to the merriment at the iconic Montebello Hotel and at the school grounds of CIC on Gorordo Avenue, my Cebu batchmates did an outreach program to the community at Asilo dela Milagrosa and the night high school of CIC.
The West Coast beauties in LA
The giving of our resources and time to others, especially those in most need, has been subconsciously ingrained in most of us, hence, there’s that before we giggled in laughter and chaos.
So, I woke up December 1, at 6AM in New York, to virtually join our Ruby Jubilee by simply watching it on Facebook Live. I loved their noise and frenzied dancing. It was so fun watching my happy noisy classmates from afar. The mighty digital technology that has bridged us through time and space. I screenshot some movements at FB Live.
Journey down memory lane starts now on the VW combi.
Big shout out to the creativity of Azon Lee, who printed a live size poster of the CIC Volks Wagen combi (to me, that was the winner in transporting us through memory lane) and the old red bike adorned with flowers.
The ability to orchestrate and manage the entire organizing team was courtesy of Bee, who does not attribute the success to herself. It’s always been a group effort, she emphasized during our conversation on my podcast Conversations with MM.
We here on the East Coast had our mini reunion too, five of eight of us, set earlier on November 25, just a few days after Thanksgiving and on a very cold day in New York City.
Looking back at high school, how innocent we were, I asked my batchmates what’s the greatest impact that teenage stage had in our lives. Carol Ann and Elenita, both registered nurses and survivors of the horrendous pandemic, said that 40 years after leaving Inmaculada, they took with them the life-long friendships that made life fun and bearable.
Cristina, now an immigration lawyer, was quick to give a shout out to the nurses in our batch who served during the pandemic. As we know, you are a Filipino in the diaspora if a sizeable number of friends and family members are nurses.
The greatest gift: lifelong friendships such as the one shared by Bee, Gina, and Martha.
At the CIC grounds for the school reunion.
December 1 Batch party at Montebello
In sunny Los Angeles, our CIC batchmates had a reunion as well, 12 of them on the first week of December. Flying in from Sacramento, Las Vegas, and San Francisco, they laughed like there’s no tomorrow, dined, and danced the TikTok, led by Lalaine, the amazing brainy performer in our batch. I think they went shopping too.
It was us, perhaps, who did the first synchronized global reunion, and the digital highway heard our laughter and gratitude for having reached the 40-year milestone. #
Conversations with Bee Luna-Ciriaco on the CIC Ruby Groovy Batch ‘83 Reunion.
