Family Ever After

With a lack of anything exciting happening in my life, I agreed to accompany my sister to attend her friend's mom's 50th birthday party at the Lancaster Hotel along Shaw Boulevard. It was an opportunity to just get out of the house, enjoy good food and hopefully have a good time.

The hotel wasn't difficult to find, as it was on a main road. However, I almost had a heart attack trying to get the car down to the basement car park since the ramps were soooo steep! I almost couldn't feel my behind touching the driver's seat! Note to self: use valet parking next time.

I was right; the food was good! At the buffet, there was lasagna, roasted chicken, buttered fish fillet (which was my favorite dish that night), lengua and lechon (which I didn't dare eat - ang cholesterol!). There was also a make-your-own-mongolian station, which was pretty cool, considering that there was already a buffet table. A simple dessert table was set up with kakanin and a chocolate fondue fountain. Yum!

Gelo, my sister's friend whose mom's birthday we were celebrating, led the program together with his friends who serenaded the entire room with their amazing vocals. =) The only trouble with having a huge participation in the program was that they didn't get to eat until later in the night. But it was well worth the effort as people kept going back to the buffet table for seconds and ate more while listening to their performances. =)

Another great part of the program was when the birthday girl got her groove on and performed two ballroom dance numbers with a dance instructor (she even had a change of costume after her first dance number!). I swear, her dancing got me teary-eyed as I imagined my own mom busting out great dance moves with her ballroom dancing crew in Cali. See, I've never seen my mom dance, but if my mom dances half as well as Tita did during the party, I'd be extremely proud. Beb and I swore to ourselves that we're going to throw a ballroom dancing party for Mama in three years' time so that we could see her dance the night away. :)

In the latter part of the night, the G family rendered a song number for Tita - "The Way You Look Tonight." It was funny seeing all of them holding their lyric cheat sheets and cueing each other as to who or what's next. I was cracking and tearing up, but it was mostly because you could really see how close they are as a family. After the song number, Tito made a short, but very sweet and touching speech for Tita, which left most of the guests (me included) dabbing at their eyes.

What really got me choked up was a scene that I saw when they opened the floor for those who wanted to dance. Tita was dancing with the DI, G's sister and brother were dancing, while G was dancing with a friend. I don't know what happened, but somehow Tita and her kids got into each other's arms and danced while in a group hug. The kids were kissing their mom, and yes, using my skill in lip reading, I saw them saying "love you, mommy." Sigh. I turned away, not because I was ashamed to be seen looking at the happy family dancing and hugging, but because I was afraid that I would start bawling my eyes out if I continued to look at them. But no, fate did not have mercy on me, because when I turned away from them, I saw Tito looking at the happy group with so much pride in his eyes and love in his smile from the back of the room. There goes my tears. I stood up and quickly walked to the beverage station to get something to drink to force the lump in my throat to go down.

I was so touched at how much love there was with this family, and how they were not afraid to show it to their 100+ guests. I know that every family has its ups and downs, but last night was a definite UP event. Last night was a celebration for their mom's birthday, but what I saw was a celebration of a family's love for each other. I know what each guest was thinking and hoping for last night, that their own families were like that. I hope the G family knows what kind of impact they made on their guests.

I thank my lucky stars that I have a truly loving sister, and an amazing mother. I could wish for an opportunity to show my love for them in such a huge way, but I know that there are also small opportunities to do that every day, so I shouldn't be envious. But I am, because somehow I couldn't recall having a huge family moment like that of the G's last night. What a wonderful, wonderful experience that party was.

Sigh. I swear, that party left me quite dehydrated, but in a very good way. =)

Oh, and I loved the souvenir cupcakes too.