High School Batch 1985 Reunion 2023

     It's has been two weeks since our two-day class reunion with my high school batch 1985, which we usually do every five years except in 2020 when Covid seemed was at its peak. We have  interim reunion in between mostly for those available in Tacloban City. I was reluctant to attend as I am not financially able to support, I used to donate money to support in previous years since 2005 as I was blessed to be working oversea. This time, my close friends classmates prodded me to, my good friend Dr. Maricelle sponsored my hotel accomodation and Rolendes took care of my meals. Rolendes was our Salutatorian and Maricelle our 1st Honorable Mention. I was the Valedictorian even if I came from the rural nook of Alangalang, Leyte while most of them were from Tacloban City. I consider myself lucky and blessed to have achieved such feat.

Batch 1985 Reunion 38th year

     On our 38th year this 2023 we had a reunion  which was originally for our 35th in 2020 but was not able to do due to the Covid pandemic. It was definitely fun meeting friends and batchmates. In one of our activities on the beach, I went around for the first time to connect to almost all my batchmates. I'm very glad to meet them again after my stroke. The thought that came to me was that had I did not make it back home when I had the stroke in Singapore, I would not have this chance to see them. God is truly great for keeping me alive.

My Einstein classmates, the first section, during the dinner

     I met my section Einstein classmates, the first section of 20 sections, although only nine of us made it, the others failed to come probably due to other commitments. There were 45 of us in the first section, there were 907 students in my batch 1985.

     It was really great to see them especially my Einstein classmates who are very dear to me. Some of them came to Singapore, saw me comatose in my hospital bed and met me when I woke up. Some of them who are based in Tacloban regularly come and visit me now in my rural village especially my two good buddies, Marlon(2nd on the right)and Elmer(first on the left) in above photo. Marlon is an agriculturist in the Department of Agriculture while Elmer is a surgeon at Leyte Provincial Hospital.

The Magic 9 in final dinner

      It's sad only a few of us made it to this rare occasion, some no doubt had valid reasons. On the first day of our reunion, we had team building activities at Baluarte Beach after a holy mass in our old school. Kudos to the organizers who initiated the games full of fun although I was a mere spectator as I could not join them due to my slow movements.

Myself(in blue) during our team building in Baluarte Beach

     On the final day, a grand dinner capped our reunion. The attendance was only about a third of our total batch but it was a night definitely we won't forget.

LNHS Batch 1985, 38 years after