Guests and friends at a christening

I was at a christening last Saturday. She was Samarah Saw Buan, the daughter of Sawfin Saw and Marcelo "Jun" Buan Jr. (hence the name). Born May 1, 2005. Great looking girl. Looked like her father, and that's according to the other guests.

There's lots of stories to tell about the parents. And a whole lot of those stories were told during the reception. But mainly about the mother, Sawfin Saw. I first met her at AMA Computer College way back 1989. We were on the Dataline (the school paper) Editorial Board. For all intents and purposes, we were a barkada with the keys to a school administered room. Years later, I met Jun Buan at Digital Equipment Filipinas. And while there, I saw Sawfin at a technical training, and I thought that I can pair these two together. (This is not the place to discuss why I had this crazy idea. I thought it was a great and very sane idea at the time.) Eight years later, thy're married and have a daughter. The sanity of the idea is still up in the air.

One of the guests and "ninangs" was a good friend from AMA, Tess del Pilar Cacnio. She's Sawfin's best friend. And thinks it's my fault that Sawfin and Jun are now married. Eight years after they met, they could have decided against the idea. And they did, actually. But am I still to blame. I think so too.

I haven't seen Tess for the last thirteen or fifteen years. Last I saw her was two weeks before Mount Pinatubo erupted. And I don't even remember what year that was. I remember the meeting we had because we had a long talk. Personal issues. With her, and not with me, I was there only to listen, discuss and to help. I remember the Pinatubo eruption because she was then a contestant for the Supermodel search, and during the event proper, the volcano erupted, and it "snowed" in Manila. Memorable. Not easily forgotten.

She was telling this story. Seems that her husband Mike, asked her a question. Mike asked what she'd do if one day, she went into their son's room and find him having a "BJ" (there were kids within hearing distance including my two teenagers, so she used the term "BJ"). She answered that she would be surprised, but on second thought as long as it was a girl kneeling in front of her son, it should be okay. Around the table, we had a laugh at her answer. There was me, my wife and another former school mate from AMA. (My two kids don't count. If they had laughed, I would be frightened and would want to know what they're reading.)

Continuing the story, Tess had asked Mike in return what he'd do if he was the one who found their son having a BJ in his own room. And he had answered: "Buti ka pa, anak."

At this we gave Tess a mild dress down. That was fun.


--andoy
27 June 2005