Suddenly Silver

When we were trying to figure out when the last time we saw each other was, it was Wells who came up with the answer.

It was in 1999!

That means this reunion was 25 yers in the making! It’s a Silver Anniversary meet-up!

Even though the time was short, I’m so glad that we were able to spend time with Auntie Baby and Wella. I’m sure Uncle Rol is smiling at us from heaven.

As we hugged and parted ways, they promised that we won’t wait for another 25 years to meet up.

Of Royco and Uncle Rolly

One of the fond memories I have of our house in Morato - a story often shared with friends - is the story of when my Uncle Rolly took care of us while our parents were away.

Uncle Rolly is Mom's older/youngest brother. Older because he was 2-years older than Mom, and youngest because he was the youngest among the 5 Regalado brothers. In the Regalado clan, he was the original creative genius. He was a poet, a writer, a songwriter, and a composer. A true renaissance man.

Here's the story. He called us for dinner, and one of the things he cooked was our favourite Royco Alphabet soup. For those who don't remember it anymore, Royco was one of the most popular brands of soup in the 70s and 80s, and they were famous for their "Chicken noodle soup" and "Alphabet soup."

To our surprise, when we reached the dinner table, Uncle Rolly spelled all our names on our plates, using the letters found in the alphabet soup. I could imagine the labour he had to go through to do that for all 5 of us. Searching for each letter, fishing it out, then arranging it on our dinner plate. Yes, it was a lot of work, but it was thoughtful. And that was the type of Uncle he was - he would take great lengths to delight us nephews and nieces.

And delighted we were. You can imagine the thrill when we saw our names neatly spelled out on our plates. That made dinner much more special that evening.

That Royco story was one of the happy stories we shared with Uncle Rolly. Aside from that, there was the story of the entire clan going home to Bicol to attend his wedding to Auntie Baby (and the Manila kids - us - were part of the entourage.) And the last time I visited him in California in 2003, which is also the last time I saw him in person.

Yesterday, Uncle Rolly was given his angel wings and joined my Lolo and Lola, and his 4 older brothers in heaven. We might not be able to see him physically, but we know that his thoughtfulness, his creativity, his gentle nature and his music will always be with us.

We'll miss you, Uncle Rolly. Please continue to watch over us with your usual kindess, joy and music while you're in heaven.