Seniors’ Prom

There is something to be said about partying with your parents. I do not mean the usual family gatherings; but partying with them, with their friends and classmates. Ateneo de Davao HS’65 held their own version of a JS Prom last Valentine’s Day at the Grand Men Seng Hotel. They called it Seniors’ Prom in celebration of their still being alive and kicking well into their senior citizen years. The text invitation exhorted all 65’ers to bring their dates and relive their high school revelries of wine, women, and song. It ended with a poignant, “ Tigulangnabaya ta”, as if to prick the conscience of those who would dare excuse themselves from the event. Informal census pegged 20+% of their batch has gone on to party ahead in heaven. Thus, making more urgent the call to celebrate especially on the day of hearts.
As fate would have it, my father, Pruds Valverde , and good friend Dicky’s father, Sonny Puyod are both ADDU 65’ers. On the other hand, my husband Jun Ralota and I are constant date mates of Dicky and his wife, Wowie who was also my batchmate in high school. We have weekly date nights of good food and interesting conversations that we always look forward to. So when this ADDU 65 Seniors’ Prom came up, we decided to gatecrash their party and save up on our Valentine’s date. Of course, it helped that Sonny Puyod sponsored the event. 😉
A prom night on Valentine’s Day is always one for the books. But having your prom with your parents on Valentine’s Day really takes the cake, especially if it is their Seniors’s Prom, and you are the only young couples present. There was a live band that played songs from the yesteryears. There was sweet tender dancing unseen in this generation’s social events. Jun and I sweet danced to the love songs of our parents and found pleasure in the classics. I danced the boogie with my father even if he struggled with pain in his legs. Jun struggled to learn the boogie and Wowie and I would laugh at his off rhythm. But it was wonderful to see him try. It was wonderful to be part of the revelry of our parents’ times. Dicky commented that never in his wildest dreams did he think we would be joining our parents’ parties because we are supposed to be attending foam parties. You know, parties where you do crazy dancing while bubbles and soap foam are showered and lathered on you. You get the picture. As we were watching our fathers and their classmates doing their singing, dancing, drinking, bullying, and other antics, we speculated how they must have been a really rowdy group in high school. We told ourselves it will be our turn to amuse our children thirty something years from now.
It is easy to be weighed down by generation gaps especially when it comes to music and technology. We often think the music of our generation is better and jiving to older music is uncool. We forget that story and history make for interesting and textured living. Story and history make for interesting and textured anything. Woe to the person who only gives value to the current because he outdates and excuses himself from the richness that life offers. If we chose to have our regular Valentine dinner date, we would have missed out on enjoying with the oldies, we would have missed out on sweet dancing on a ballroom floor, and we would not have saved a pretty peso. But more than that, celebrating Hearts Day with persons who fill our hearts is one meaningful way to make our existence here on earth worthwhile while preparing for the grander party in heaven.