Clan reunion

I was rummaging through my old photo files last night and I stumbled upon these pictures. It was taken summer of last year during a clan reunion in Antipolo. It was the annual Ycasiano/Icasiano Clan Reunion where relatives on my mother's side would meet, eat food "Bulacan group style", introduce new members of the clan and update the family tree. The roots of this tree goes back to Spain, where the grandparents of my great grandfather, a Spanish PRAYLE in Baliuag, Bulacan, first settled in the Philippines during colonial times.




I never really paid much attention to all of their stories. Some distant cousin somewhere is in charge of watering that family tree, tracing which family branch was connected to which dead relative. There were a lot of important people in the group, senators, writers, doctors, teachers, you name, we've got it. Like I said, I just didn't pay attention.


However, there is one cousin that steals the spotlight every year. Richard Gomez. And last year was no exception. He was running for senator at the time and the party was perfect for his campaign. When he and wife Lucy arrived at the resort, the whole party stopped and everyone was eager to shake hands and take pictures of their famous relative. Everything was a blur after that.


I only remember taking pictures. I wanted to stay behind the camera, it was more fun that way. I was more interested in the chaos. I took pictures of the ones holding the camera, not the ones posing in front of it. Finally he came over to talk to my Mom. Tita Kaye, Ren, Karel and Tek were all starstruck. He and mom talked for a while.

We only had one conversation. Tek took the camera. While posing for a picture he said "Balita ko single ka pa? What's up with that?" THE NERVE!
I said "I haven't found any victims yet!" through my teeth, took the camera and left.
Hay naku, I don't understand what all the pressure's about? See my fake smile? didn't think so.

That's Lucy and Ate Pinky, formerly, Stella Suarez Junior, a Sexy star of the 80's and sister of Richard. Now Ate Pinky, she's a sweetheart, ever since she was taller than me, she was always nice to me. Now look at us! She used to be chubby too, now she's forcing me to follow her diet routine. She always said, if it worked on her, it should work for me too. Let's just see.



Anyhoo, they left after an hour and we continued with our party. Only this time, everyone's head was spinning from the onslaught of campaign posters, fans, flyers and banners of our wanna-be senator. Too bad he didn't win. He certainly has the charisma of a politician, and I can sense that he genuinely cares for people.


Our family tree is indeed full of important people. Everyone is. I don't think anybody is more important than the next one. There are just people who grab the spotlight and those who would rather stay behind it.

Now who could forget a reunion like that?