Finally, the Grand Reunion of Ex-Juvenists, which had taken over a year of planning and only about three weeks of "fast -paced - sleepless night worrying- last minute cramming" preparations, pushed through last February 17 to 19 at the Redemptorist Retreat Center in Lipa City. Judging from the accolades, but much more, from the "wish we had more time" sentiment of the reunionists, all in all it was a huge success...and well worth all the trouble.
Fr. Reg Ahearn,who came all over from Australia to attend the reunion, said so himself in an email sent to the group."It was worth the trip from Australia."
Having been in the thick of the preparations for this "once in a lifetime event", I can only conclude that really, if God wants something to happen...then it will! And from what I experienced, heaven and earth will cooperate to make God's wish come true!
For how can I explain why almost mysteriously,the work load at the office seemed to be at its lightest...allowing me a lot of time to think and plan out the details of the reunion.
How come,providentially I may say, Fr. Ernie turns out to be the Rector of the Retreat House and he makes it available for all of us as the venue for the reunion?
Was it by some unseen design that the Chowking Conventions, which I regularly host, were two weeks apart of each other allowing me to be present at the reunion which was sandwiched in between?
If I push the questioning further and see things "in the light of faith" then I understand there was a reason why certain things happened in the past. For example:
1) Among the reunion organizers,I was one of those who stayed in the Juvenate the longest and was right smack in the middle of the Juvenate's life span. Therefore,I knew a lot of the older groups and also knew those who entered much later in the 1970's before the Juvenate closed down. I became the "logical" choice as coordinator of the reunion.
2) This is the eerie part. Years back when I was in Theology and based in Antipolo, I came across a lot of old photos and negatives lying about one of the elevator shafts of the Juvenate. many of the photos had been ruined by rain and the negatives had been left in utter neglect. I recognized many of these photos because I had arranged them in a Juvenate photo album when I was in 2nd year high. For some strange reason, I retrieved all that were still good and kept them in a photo album.
When the ex-Juvenate egroups was born and time came to share photos of the past, I had a lot of these photo memories to share because of a chance occurrence in the past!
3) Even Fr. Reg's presence was a God send. He was originally scheduled to be in the Philippines in October,2005 but could not make it because of a change of plans. However, because of this he was now more available this time around to attend the reunion in February.
4) Even the weather cooperated! During our group picture taking,there was threat of rain. But it turned out perfect for taking photos...no squinting of faces...no light streaking on camera lenses...just the right amount of haze. Then after we were done, that's when the rains fell. And it provided us just the right amount of coolness while we enjoyed our lunch at Casa Rap!
What did I get out of the Reunion? After all, I was so busy attending to the details that make for the perfect show, that I didn't really get to reconnect with everyone as I would have wanted.
But looking back, I did get my personal rewards from the experience.
One, of course, were the words of "thanks" from the reunionists specially those who hadn't seen each other for a very long time, and now got in touch because of the reunion.
Then, there were the smiles, the never ending laughter,the banter among old friends,the recollections...
There was a point during the afternoon of Day 1 when I was sitting at table with Lito Palapal, Fr Nick Abella, Joe Vergara and Rodel Macasaet, enjoying afternoon coffee and Elmo's pan de sal while exchanging stories. It was just like the Juvenate days when seniors would sit with juniors and be comfortable with each other. What was significant about that scene was we had the "oldest" member (Manong Joe) and the "latest" (in Rodel Macasaet) seated together,and behaving as if they were old friends. The only common bond each one had was we once lived in the Juvenate,though at different time periods.
Sadly, the reunion had to end. But what an ending! We were able to give tribute to Fr. Ron and Fr. Reg, who both got into the spirit of things by cracking us up with jokes and anecdotes. Then as we alway ended our gathering during Juvenate days, we sang the "Salve regina" and got Fr. Reg's & Fr. Ron's blessing.
It's been over a week since the R&R and I'm getting back to my daily grind.Before the event when preparations were at its height, I was all keyed up and sharp...visualizing what was to happen in my mind's eye. No wonder that after the reunion, I felt so tired that when I got to Boracay for our Franchisee's Convention I had a very deep and restful nap.
I miss the action and like the others wish we had more time..but maybe it was right we didn't overextend to the point that we would have wanted to get home away from each other.
The sentiment now is that we ought to continue keeping in touch...keep the flame alive. The northern Americans are planning something hopefully in Las Vegas.
God willing...that if it pushes through..I'd like to be part of that get together...not as an organizer but as a participant this time!
