"She is the apple of her parent's eye, from infancy to adulthood, she has always made her family proud. Active in the choir and other duties in the church, she has always put God above all others. She is a daughter, a cousin, a niece, a loyal friend, a great listener, hard working student pursing her degree in Nursing. Today, on her 18th birthday, she is a princess. Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together and welcome our debutante, Ms. Raila Ventura."..............(Marci Gerber)
That was my introduction for a very special lady in my life. Raila celebrated her 18th birthday party @ the Santa Maria Inn. To Filipinos, it's a debut, to the rich and famous, it's a cotillion, in the south, it's a debutante ball. It's a coming out party. I've known her before she was even thought of. Our families friendship has spanned @ least 28 years. We've always been there for each other, through thick and thin. No matter where life has taken us, no matter how busy we have become, we've always remained close in our own special way.
Raila Lisa Ventura was born on September 26, 1991 @ 10:30am, weighing 9.5 lbs. Along with my mother, we were her first visitors. She was a beautiful child. Every where she went, she always got someones attention. Raila smiled, all the time. She had her moments of fussiness but they were tolerable. Barney was her favorite. Till this day, I can not stand that dinosaur. Raila is a very bright and talented girl. Playing the piano is one of her favorite things to do.
Raila's celebration was an incredible one. She wore this blue gown that brought out some much more beauty, she was a princess. If that dress was yellow, she could have been Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Her court was dressed in these beautiful powder blue cocktail dresses while the guys donned on a powder blue vest and tie. I, on the other hand wore a black cocktail dress. It's been about 5 years since I wore heels. Raila got me to wear heels @ her party. Amazing! The program for this event was stellar. Maxwell Corpuz sang his rendition of Moonlight Serenade, Amy Cardenas sang The Journey, her twin daughters sang Miley Cyrus's The Climb, Arlene Febre sang a personal request from Raila. Roger, Raila's father serenaded her with his own personal rendition of RailaLisa (Monalisa). There was not a dry eye in the house. You can see most of the guest wiping their faces try to regain composure. Raila cried. That was hard to hold back tears when your father is serenading you.
I was given the honor to emcee the event yesterday. 18 years in the making. I was nervous. To me, it was a dream come true. I was in front of 160 guest, most, who have known me since birth, this should have been a piece of cake. NO it wasn't. There was only 2 rehearsals. 2 weeks before and the night before the event. I had questionnaires for the court, some I had to wing on a whim, added things as I went along, and the knots in my stomach kept churning that I didn't really get to finish my lunch. I promised Raila and her parents that this wasn't going to be a boring sleepy party. There are some parties that drag on forever. I'm all for change, all for fun and laughs, and that, we had. The party was to start about 1130a.m. Guest started arriving about 1120a.m. so I really didn't get started with every till about 1145a.m. From beginning to end, we had about 20 minutes to spare. We were done on schedule.
To Raila, Christian, EJ, Sonny, Kenneth, Scott, Elvis, Melinda, Roxanne, Mary Allen, Sherie, Michelle, Hyra, Veronica, Karen, Sarah and Rachel, thank you! It was great spending time with all of you yesterday.
Raila, thanks for letting me have my Ryan Seacrest/Nick Cannon moment. It's been the most fun thing since turning 40. Knowing you for 18 years has been an adventure. See you in New York this Winter......I love you!
No comments:
Post a Comment