Celebrating A Milestone : A 70th Birthday

Today I am happy to accept an invitation to a diamond birthday celebration.  I find the choice of the theme and venue excellent; a place where one can sing and dance freely for the young and old. Songs from modern and down to the 60's and 70's comprise most of the band's repertoire. 

Some people like to travel with the family, some join a cruise but most of the time, people want  to celebrate this inportant day not only with the family but with friends and relatives as well. 

This brings to mind my older brother's 70th birthday celebration two years ago. His only daughter organized it at a hotel near their place. She called me for some suggestions on how the party should go,  especially the program.   Since I love doing that; I've organized countless events very much bigger than this in my former job; I was happy to give my suggestions:

"Give plenty of parts to the grandchildren,  preferably a dance  from them as an opening number, and you'll see how the guests will love that".

"I'm too busy, ninang"  (I'm her  godmother, so she calls me that) "I can't coach them well" she said, 

"Oh, it need not be perfect", I said, "actually, their mistakes will be cute.

"Of course, some close friends will speak about "the good ole' days", she said as she proceeded to mention whom she was counting on to do that. 

"I can speak for my siblings", I said since my two other brothers and our only sister are all in the US.  "Of course, ninang, let's not waste family talent, you have to speak". Ahem! Not flattering myself here, she actually said that and she will read this blog so I can't put words into her mouth.

"Wow! This is going to be quite a job, this is one time I wish I had a sister", she said. 

"Let your two brothers help, especially your youngest, I'm sure he will be happy to help out", I replied. 

"Let your Mom speak, she's hosting this party afterall", I reminded her. 

"But she will ask me to write what she will say, besides, if I will let her do it, we may end up getting a lecture", she replied. Her Mom is a College dean, I recalled. 

 After a week, she emailed me, "too busy Ninang, can you help me with my Mom's speech?". 

"She must speak from her heart, that is very personal, but then maybe, I can make an outline", I emailed back. 

My husband and I called my brother to greet him on his birthday. "Where's the party? , I asked

"No money" he replied. 

When we arrived at the party, we greeted him again and he was smiling,  "Dahl (his wife), gave it away", he said. "When you called this morning, she asked what happened about something and whether you told me, and I said no. Then she replied that maybe you'll tell me tonight". (Meaning we will be seeing them)

 "And then a neighbor passed by the house this afternoon and told me he can't come tonight, so I got two hints", he said, laughing that he learned about this surprise party earlier on. 

The program hosts: his grandson in wine red and his son in stripes. 

The grandchildren : the one in plain pink and white is my granddaughter.

My brother's five grandkids.

The party turned out a success, the "closest and the dearest" among her dad's friends were there,  especially his best friend along with his brothers from Letran way back in high school. The program was great, the grandchildren were delightful, the buffet was wonderful. There was music, dancing and speeches and lots of laughter. 

Here, let me share excepts from my speech......

"Life begins at forty is no longer true, 60 is the new 40; in my mother's time, when one retires at sixty, he just sits on their rocking chair all day, watches the world go by and waits for his final day to come. Today, American surveys show that the life span of an individual is now extended to about 20 to 30 years."

"I have very little memories of my brother, I was very young when he was sent to the city for high school at Letran College, so I only saw him during vacations."

"He taught me how to dance, when he came home for vacation, he always taught me new tricks, the craze then was boogie woogie"

"He escorted me to my first college acquaintance party; and before I knew it he was dancing the night away with one pretty girl after another. "

"At 60 or thereabouts, life's choices should matter most. If you want to read on your iPad until 4am, whose business is it?  If you want to sing and dance to the tunes of the 60's or 70's, who should care?"

"What is important is to live in the here and now, not way back when or one day soon." 

Here, I quoted the former US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, who said: "Know what you want in life, you just have one life to live. It is yours, so own it, claim it, live it and do the best you can with it".

"Finally, dear Brother, live each day to the fullest, so that when your final hour will come, you can say without regret: "I came, I went and I did it all"."

Of course, there was so much more to the speech about being lucky for having a brother like him, and so on. .......

After my speech, my granddaughter who was hanging out with her cousins across the hall approached me with watery eyes and said:  "Nana, your speech is so crying-ful", she meant that it made her cry. She was seven then. 

Now, I'm wondering wether my speech was so sentimental to bring some tears to a seven-year-old.