We are almost there

Growing old must be terribly, terribly sad and lonely, especially if you grow old away from your family and in the company of strangers-turned-housemates. You see it on the faces of the residents of Luwalhati ng Maynila (Home For The Aged) in the outskirts of Marikina City which shares a sprawling compound with the Boys Town, the same place successful people like Leyte Rep. Gerry Espina, actor Dante Varona and movie director Jun Posadas spent their early childhood.

Last Sunday, I celebrated another milestone by visiting the Luwalhati and it brought back decades-old memories when I first visited a similar place, the Golden Acres (Home For the Aged), for a story I was doing as an apprentice for the old Manila Times. Then and now, I felt the same way — a fast-forward feeling of how Baby Boomers like me will be spending the days, maybe not in such a place but hopefully with their families, looking back misty-eyed at the beautiful yesteryear.

Led by Tita Angelina Sevilla and her fellow eightyish friends who have made it their mission to feed the residents every now and then, the visit was a joint project between me and other relatives celebrating their birthdays this month, including STAR’s L.A. correspondent Raymond de Asis Lo (April 16) and London-based nurse Joy Sevilla (April 19), and in memory of our dear departed mom Remedios Fua-Lo.

Boys Town enjoy a party last Sunday as part of the feeding project led by Angelina T. Sevilla (above, second from left) who was assisted by (from left) Luwalhati OIC Leonila Borja, Nastassja Lo, Kimberly Lee and her mom Susan Lee, and Maria Acompañado.

The celebrators chipped in for the food and refreshment for both the old and young residents of the two institutions, and for the gift packs that we distributed, with the help of my good friends Boy Abunda who donated Pure Gold gift certificates (for the groceries and biscuits, etc.) and Mike Castro who donated boxes of Lucky Me instant noodles.

After the Mass said by Fr. Michael Francis, chaplain of Marist School, followed by a program enlivened by residents who danced and sang, and the early dinner, Leonila Borja, Luwalhati OIC, took us on a quick tour of the place.

We saw some residents sitting on concrete benches beneath the trees in the small gardens, lost in their thoughts, sometimes giving us empty glances, on their faces the traces of the years as faint and as sad as the shadows cast by the setting sun.

It was an eye-opening experience.

You know, you blink from your hectic diurnal working routine, often unmindful of the passage of time, and then you slow down a bit and reflect that, yes, we’re not getting any younger, that especially us Baby Boomers, we are almost there.

* * *

Chiz: Leave us alone!

That’s the appeal of Sen. Chiz Escudero, relayed to Funfare by his close friend, after he was swamped with calls and requests for interviews in the wake of Funfare’s ‘scoop’ yesterday that Chiz and his wife Tintin have separated.

It was somebody who loves both Chiz and Tintin dearly who told Funfare the real score between the un-couple, neither of whom answered calls and text messages for comment.

Although Chiz and Tintin, reported to be living apart for five months now, neither confirmed nor denied the story, Funfare stands by the ‘scoop’ as 100 percent true. The couple are parents of fraternal twins.

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