Bunso

When my sister Valerie, the fourth girl in a row for my parents Frank and Sonia Mayor (after Joanne Rae, Mary Mae and Geraldine), was born via Caesarian section, one of my parents’ friends seemed disappointed.

“Hopia na naman,” he referred to the blowout he promised if the baby was a girl. I think it would have been lechon if the baby were the much-awaited boy.

She baked the cake for her husband Ping Sotto’s birthday. Also in photo (from left) daughter-in- law Jazmin, son Miguel and daughter Trish.

But anything but a disappointment the baby girl turned out to be. She had big round eyes with irises as big as singko coins, and thick, long lashes that framed them. They said she looked like Shirley Temple, except that her wavy locks weren’t blonde. She was a bundle of joy when she wasn’t colicky, which was every afternoon.

The cover girl.

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As a little girl, Valerie was my mom’s tail, but we would always shoo her away from the kitchen because as a kitchen helper, she was a mess. My paternal grandfather Grandpa Zario called her kiti-kiti (a wriggler). It was probably sweet revenge for Valerie that of all four of us, she was the one who made baking more than a hobby, as the legions of fans of her Valerie’s Kitchen can attest to now.

She also didn’t care much about doing her homework, much to the anxiety of her classmate and our first cousin Aimee Loleng (now Ferrer). Valerie passed all her tests, worry-free. Today, she says she never sleeps without doing her “homework,” so to speak. She’s a Martha Stewart and, proof that miracles do happen — she’s a diva in organizing documents, inventories, and yes, parties!

My friends always used to marvel about how unselfconscious Valerie was of her beauty, even when she always slayed casting auditions. She wasn’t the type to check her face in the mirror the way we often check our phone for messages now. She was a magazine cover girl several times over, a UP Upsilon Fraternity Sweetheart, Camay Girl, Close Up Girl.

Aside from being beautiful and smart, she grew up kind and loving.

When our maternal grandmother Nanay Jovita Reyes was confined in the hospital for a lingering illness, Valerie spent a lot of time caring for her. Valerie, then only 11, was by her bedside when Nanay breathed her last.

She loved taking care of our neighbor Didit Castro’s prematurely born daughter Denise, so much so that when Denise was christened, Valerie, then 15, was godmother. When my son Chino was born and I was at work, Valerie would visit our apartment almost daily during school break from UP and take care of him to the point that she could change his diapers with the most graceful sweeping movements.

During one shoot for the calendar of Shell, one of its executives Ping Sotto told friends when he saw Val emerge from the elevator, “That’s the girl I am going to marry.”

Indeed, they have been happily married for over three decades now, with two children Miguel and Patricia (“Trish”) and a daughter-in-law, Jazmin Reyes.

Sixteen years ago, when our father Frank was stricken with cancer and hospitalized in the US, Valerie dropped everything she was doing in Manila to help our mother Sonia take care of him. We all took turns helping Mom, but I think Valerie clocked in the most hours. For months, her duties as a wife and mother took a pause, and she was 100 percent Frank Mayor’s daughter.

“It’s crystal clear to anyone who crosses paths with my mom that she is the rarest of gems; the impossible combination of a stunning face with a heart so selfless and warm it could melt a glacier. It may seem unreal that a person could be this beautiful inside and out — but that’s exactly what she is: living, breathing proof that sometimes God gets carried away and makes somebody practically perfect,” says her daughter Trish.

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But our caring bunso is no Mother Teresa. She has a wicked sense of humor with impeccable timing. And she’s a terrific mimic — you’ll enjoy her impersonations unless you’re in her crosshairs.

Her high school classmate and close friend former Sen. Grace Poe declares Val as the class historian, “remembering every detail of our lives (even the embarrassing ones!) and keeping our stories alive with humor and love.”

“Val is a study in contrast. She’s as sweet as a cookie, but she can be as tough as steel when it matters. To me, Val is the definition of a complete woman. She’s a devoted wife to Ping, a loving mom, a caring daughter to her mom Sonia, and a loyal friend to all of us. She and Ping built their business from the ground up, and the love she shares with her family — especially her close bond with Trish, our honorary ‘class daughter’ — is something we all admire,” adds Grace.

“What makes her unique is how she so effortlessly balances being wife to Ping, mom to Miguel and Trish, super baker of her Valerie’s Kitchen, extraordinary manager of her Shell stations, and kind-hearted dog rescuer — while still making time for everyone. Her big heart holds space for each of us,” says another Assumption high school classmate and close friend, Malu Gamboa Lindo.

Life, indeed, has been good for and to Valerie. We celebrate her birth — 08/28/1968 at 8 a.m. — because her life is a confection that rose through the fire and emerged a multi-tiered wonder, not unlike her many tortes. Everything else Valerie does now is pure icing on the cake!

Happy birthday, Bunso! *