The Gathering(s)

This title borrowed from the 1992 Highlander movie was apt, considering that I had two of these in as many days.

Friday, March 11th was the long-awaited Tinsay Grand Reunion held at Alabang 400 in Paranaque. This was a reunion spearheaded by a little-known relative who had been living in New Jersey for the past decade. He had created the family website in November last year out of simple curiosity and a desire to make contact with existing Tinsays around the world to trace his roots. To his utter amazement, this resulted in more than 2,000 hits to the website by the end of February 2005! (That's how many of us have been spawned and cast out into an unsuspecting mankind...) The affair was as could be expected - zany and loud - with some relatives even flying in from Roxas City and Iloilo. (Bacolod-based relatives were sorely missed.) What was most enjoyable was the fact that we got to meet other Tinsays from various parts of the country and it was a wonderful feeling to belong to this unique gaggle of people. The program proper consisted of fun activities: a trip-to-Jerusalem-patterned game where each one had to switch tables and learn the names of people on both sides lest they be fined 500 bucks if they were unable to give the correct names to match the faces (memorizing more than 100 names in a span of a few minutes is no small feat), a contest entitled Mr. & Ms. Tinsay consisting of a talent and question-and-answer portion to determine the first ever winners of what would hopefully be a yearly tradition, an induction of a "Council of Elders" consisting of patriarchs from each branch of the family tree to lend advice should it be needed, the formalization of a foundation intended to help relatives who should require financial assistance, and of course, food and dancing galore which lasted till the wee hours of the morning. The only part I didn't particularly relish was when I was called upon as 1 of the 6 contestants for Ms. Tinsay and had to go through the motions of acting up and even singing (egad!) in front of an audience that consisted mostly of strangers!!! Aaaargh!!!#@! Nevertheless, inspite of this ultimate humiliation, I do hope plans of holding the next reunion summer of 2006 in Boracay pushes through. By then, more relatives would have gotten the news and there would be more of us to invade the shores of Aklan (400 was the conservative estimate). Just hope the island is ready for us - hahaha!

Here's the invitation specially created by my cousin Allan for the occasion which was sent out to all those who had registered:
Next came my reunion with college buds Jennie, Annie and Hail. We had been wanting to meet Jennie's intended, Rein, for some time but somehow only got around to doing it today. It wasn't nearly enough time, though, as after lunch and a movie (Hitch was absolutely F-U-N-N-Y!), Annie had to leave to go back to work and Hail had to do some errands. We had a grand time trading stories and reminiscing about the good old times. What was comforting for me was that all four of us still hadn't changed that much. The ties that held us together back in the day were still there and no matter how often seasons change and how our lives branch towards separate directions, we will still have that friendship that has withstood the test of time. Most importantly, we got to know Rein a little bit more and as far as I'm concerned, he will be perfect for Jen. He does make her happy. I look forward to spending more time with them in the future (when's the mini-golf thing again?). I truly wish them happiness in their new journey together come December. (This is in black-and-white, Jen, so I can't take back this endorsement anymore - hehehe.)

For a chance to know more about our lovable family, access: www.tinsay.com