Reunions.

Sis called yesterday about the big family reunion I just missed. She is a known talker for all things negative, so when she enthusiastically narrated all those 'gory' details about the said reunion in Villa Escudero, I felt relieved that I conveniently missed everything... My father comes from a very big family.. They are 16 in total, and most of those 16 siblings are scattered to different parts of the world, so naturally reunions like that can be quite chaotic! Whew, must have been a pandemonium gathering all those people in one place. When I was younger, I remember we also had a reunion like that, and I heard 4 of my cousins talking... one is from Australia, one is from Belgium, and two were from U.K. and U.S. They were simply talking about coffee, but I almost got a nosebleed from trying to understand each and every one of them!

Most people would usually let out an inconvenient gasp whenever they hear that my dad has 15 other siblings.. And the next question they would always ask is if they come from the same mother. But I would say not. My grandfather obviously had issues with fidelity at that time. But the good thing was that he raised all of those 16 children in one roof, gave them the best education possible, and provided well for their needs.

The oldest among the 16 children named Myne or Wilhelmina who lives in Belgium was the one who organized it. I always thought her name is kinda pretty and classy, so I was surprised when my dad said she was named after Queen Wilhelmina of Netherlands. She was born during the 2nd World War, and Queen Wilhelmina played a great role in the Dutch resistance at that time. Must have been interesting being named after a very important and famed royalty... But not in Manny Pacquiao's Queen Elizabeth kind of way. I have issues with people named Queen, Queenie, Princess, or King. It's like their parents wanted their children to be the center of everyone's attention. But I do have one exception, when I was in highschool, I became friends with a girl named Majesty. Surprisingly, I didn't have any issue with her name, so I guess Majesty is fine. By the way, Queen Wilhelmina's mother's name is Emma, the second wife of King William III.. and that's where my name was taken from, according to my father.

My grandfather whose name is C.S.O., has a very interesting story to tell. He was a Chinese orphan who came from the province of 'A-moy' which is now called Xiamen in China. When he was a young boy, 11 or 12 perhaps, he detested the poor living condition of his province, so he tagged along Chinese merchants who did business in different parts of Asia. One day their boat docked in Aparri and my grandfather, C.S.O., decided to try his luck there. There were other Chinese settlers there who inter-married with the natives, so C.S.H. didn't have difficulty fending for himself as he worked for them selling bread and dumplings. It was then a Jesuit missionary priest saw him. They pitied him because he was an orphan at a young age, so they decided to adopt him... Soon after, they sent him to study in Ateneo and in return, he cleaned the yard and ran errands for them. C.S.H. was a very determined young boy and he spent most of his time studying. He graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Commerce, something he was very proud of, considering how poor he was at that time. Shortly after, he met my grandmother who then works as a teacher in Saint Paul's University. Like C.S.H., she was also a very smart woman, earning a degree there in Economics as Magna Cum Laude. Shortly after the meeting, they tied the knot.. I'm not sure what were the pre-disposing factors why my grandfather went philandering, but one thing's for sure, he loved and provided for all of his children equally, to the best of his ability. And hats off to my grandmother who accepted and love all her husband's children as her own.

The idea of having 16 children all under one roof was amusing for me as a child. Whenever I hear my dad's tales, I really can't help but be amused. Like how they would use up a new bar of soap everyday for example. I did the math when I was younger, and including the 5 helpers and my grandparents, it was a fairly reasonable consumption. And of course, they took turns using the dining table. I still remember the old Lazy Susan table which they used before. It could accomodate 10 people all at the same time, but of course, since there were 16 children, some had to wait for their turn. I could only imagine that those 16 children were big enough to fill a children's birthday party! Also, my dad was the first one to drive, so my grandmother would always oblige him to go with her to the market. He was her personal chauffeur at that time... And my father fondly recalls how different her shopping list would be from other housewives. For one, she buys half of a whole pig each time and chickens never went down to a total of 10 with each visit to the market.

Since my grandfather was adopted by priests, he kept a rule to only enrol his children to all boys and all girls school run by nuns and priests. He must have loved those priests who adopted him that he even sent one of his sons to a seminary to become one. When my dad was a sophomore in Ateneo, my grandfather got sick with Cancer and died two years later. He must have been a great man when he was still alive considering all of his accomplishments. I wish I had the chance to meet him in person and hear those interesting tales of his life.