The Lovely of my life

Seems like only yesterday when we were in Madrid and we were young. To quote Winston Churchill, “Glorious in that dawn to be alive, but to be young was very heaven.”

Yes, we were young and happy, without a care in the world.

We laughed, danced, and sang Spanish and Filipino songs at the Colegio Mayor de Guadalupe and in the bars and cafés of Gran Via and Calle Princesa.

Gary Teves was there with us. A student of economics in London, Gary was years away from getting the Best Finance Minister in Asia award.

Philip Mabilangan and his sister Marilou were also there — years before Philip became Gen. Carlos P. Romulo’s top aide, then successively ambassador to Paris, Beijing, and the UN.

Margarita Ansaldo was there with us, too. I remember the movie then showing in Madrid was No Comais las Margaritas. In English, it means “Please Don’t Eat the Daisies.” It starred David Niven and Doris Day. Margie’s husband Chuching Tambunting was an outstanding banker and our former ambassador to the Court of St. James.

And then there was our President — not among us students but with her parents President Diosdado Macapagal and Doña Eva Macapagal in the first state visit in Spain of a Philippine president. We were waving to them as their motorcade passed along Gran Via, the Avenida de Jose Antonio.

On the next state visit by a Philippine President to Spain by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, I was also there, not anymore as a student but this time as the President’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs.

And it was in Madrid — at the Colegio Mayor de Guadalupe in Ciudad Universitaria — where I first saw and met a radiant and ravishing beauty.

I was smitten — absolutely and totally. It was love at first sight. It can truly be said that I have not set eyes on another woman since.

Through all the years — 46 good years — Lovely has been my inspiration, my weathervane, my consigliere, my partner.

Come to think of it, I still do not know why she took the gamble and said yes long ago in those balmy, carefree, and magical years in Madrid.

To start with, I was a probinsyano from a small town in Central Luzon called Camiling. You probably know the saying, “You can take the boy out of the country but not the country out of the boy.”

 I was not tall, dark, and handsome. I did not own or drive a flashy car. I had two left feet and was an embarrassment to my partner on the dance floor in a country where flamenco is like a way of life.

Definitely, I had none of a Prince Charming’s attributes.

And yet in Madrid she said I do! I can only say the good Lord must have been on my side all along.

And since then, He continues to watch over our family and bless us with what matters most in life: a clear conscience, fairly good health and mental vigor, good neighbors and steadfast friends who have