I am 62 today

Today I celebrated my 62nd birthday and decided to give myself a free day and not work nor think about it. I run some errands and had lunch at John and Yoko in GB5 which is basically Sumosam with prettier waitresses in boots and mini skirts. Anina asked me whether I was going to watch a movie. (Wednesday is when they change movies in MetroManila and in slower times I would normally take the day off and watch the newest movies particularly one that I figured would not run too long because it was good but not commercial), no movies today, I told her I was going to buy something for myself. That I did, I bought myself a wireless mouse that did not work when I got home to try it.
In the meantime I had texted my children I was going to Mass at Della Strada at 6pm and would treat them for dinner with Gian and Mimay and of course Tita Didi at Chelsea in Serendra (if we could get a table).I asked Cholo to reserve a table but was told their allocated tables for reservations were all booked. (policy seemed to set aside a number of tables for reservations and the rest for walk-ins). After some hemming and hawing we decided to try for Chelsea and then go for a second choice if the place were full. We agreed upon Chelsea because there was general agreement that the last time we had a meal there it was special.(mainly the spare ribs)
Anyway after Mass with Javier and Mikey and passing for Anina at the Ateneo where she had read two of her poems to students to celebrate Humanities week, we got to Serendra at about 730pm.Cholo was already there and told us Chelsea was full. (I also have to mention that Mikey is auditioning to be a DJ at RJ Underground and did his first stint today from 9to12 this morning)
We settled for Balducci an Italian restaurant that normally not full when we passed by it. I later found out it was owned by the people who used to run the LOpera in Jupiter. We had their appetizer plate, tuna carpaccio and prosciutto with melon which was above average for our Filipino standards(my norms for Italian food were distorted when I took a business trip to the north of Italy in 2006 and had several meals in real trattorias and the food was simply superb, almost divine). I had a seafood soup that was excellent and had rack of lamb. Cholo had pasta with Italian sausage and truffles,while Anina had minestrone and the seafood platter. Javier had a pizza while Mikey had the onion soup and a seafood salad. Didi and Gian arrived later and they both had onion soup and picked on the appetizers and the pizza. Service was quick and attentive from a pretty waitress with a pleasant disposition with a legion of waiters bringing up the food because we were on the loft. The general consensus was the food was very good and Balducci will be included in our list of choices when it is time to have a special meal.
But that's not what I want to tell you about. Its about three songs that the restaurants trio played for us after they sung Happy Birthday to me which we had requested .The three songs are La Vie En Rose, Usahay and Historia de un Amor in that order. It struck me that each song represented a phase of my life and someone who was special to me. My children knows what La Vie en Rose represents,it is Marlene who loved this song. Marlene and some of her friends took formal voice lessons to be able to sing this song and her friends serenaded her with this song in the last week of her life. At the same time when we were newly married we discovered the Little Sparrow Edith Piaf and shared a life long passion for her music. Anina and I watched a very good bio movie of Edith Piaf last year during the Euro Film Festival and I know Marlene would have loved it too.
Usahay represents Cebu and my attachment to Cebu City. I worked for three years from 1966 to 69 when SMC put up its Mandaue complex and I see this time as my passage to adulthood. Although I had lived by myself when the company sent me to Germany for three month training for the Mandaue project, living in Cebu in a house with the other project engineers was how I became an adult. Later in my career I went back to Cebu( in 1989) to manage the Coca Cola business of Visayas and it was memorable in many ways as it was the first time I was assigned to run a business and have real profit responsibility. Usahay was something you heard in the bars and beer gardens we used to frequent in our younger times and listening to it today floods me with warm feelings.
Historia de un Amor makes me remember my father who was a good tenor. Although Vesti la Giuba or la Donna E Mobile is what he used to sing to us. Historia de un Amor for some unexplained reason evokes images of Papa mustache and all. Furthermore the lyricism of the words of the song in Spanish makes me remember his love for the Spanish language and I think I am a better person because I can speak Spanish.(I guess learning another language not your own adds dimensions to your personality that would not be present if you did not)
So today on my 62nd birthday I rediscovered these three songs and why they have been part of me for a long time. Maybe next year I will talk about Barbra and Johnny Mathis and why I like them. I had a good birthday!