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| Behind the Scenes with Ivy Visitacion |
It had been close to 20 years since Vreneli Abellar, a former high school student of La Consolacion College Bacolod, had last seen her high school batch of 1983. After graduation, Vreneli had since fulfilled her dream of being a career nurse and is now a successful head nurse in a big hospital in New Jersey, USA.
Now, with the onset of their golden years, she wondered how it would be to gather her school batch for a big reunion.
Through her high school best friend, Christine Nicavera, and their Class FB admin Anthony Visitacion, messages were hurriedly emailed about their big reunion this year, to be hosted by Vreneli. She requested that everyone should come in their most comfortable attire. The venue of this gathering would be Apollo Restaurant, owned and managed by their batch mate, couple Wilson and Chiqui Palermo-Chiong, who prepared a superb menu for this memorable occasion.
Close to 50 members of their LCC High School Class showed up, and the result was a big noisy gathering of the young once, who forgot that they were no longer teenagers and greeted each other with screams of recognition and tight hugs. Vreneli also hired an acoustic band to play songs of the 80s where everyone could sing or dance along, but it turned out to be a riot of fun and laughter. Old friends recalled happy days full of mischief and - escapades, of secret loves and crushes, of small victories and heartaches. Oh, what memories they all shared!
Two other batchmates, who have also been successful abroad, arrived and joined the big reunion. Nurses Mary Charity Ortaliz-Maldonado and Cora Basio-Egger were in town for their annual medical mission in the province as part of their advocacy to be of service to their fellowmen.
Charity also sponsored a game portion where she gathered class couples to play “How Well Do You Know Your Partner?” It was a smash hit and winners for that night were dentists couple Mario and Tina Oliveros. It was also a gathering of August birthday celebrators for the Abellar family, that included Vreneli, her daughter Dani, who turned 11 this month, and her brother Vincente. A teary-eyed Vreneli expressed her happiness and gratitude that she saw her old high school batch - still wacky, goofy and noisy...
Classmate Olive Ledesma felt really nostalgic and couldn't contain her joy, knowing that she didn't regret taking a one day leave from her job in Iloilo City, to be with her classmates, whom she has not seen for the past 32 years.
After the event, pix was posted on FB, and a lot of other classmates expressed their plans to come home next year to have another big fun get together with their high school batch. As Paris said in the movie, Helen of Troy, “What is remembered, is forever young”.*
