Sonya's romance with life
Roads paved with flowers led us to a riotous garden where colorful butterflies and ladybugs met up to chase our weary blues away. We arrived at Sonya’s Garden just in time for this much-awaited annual thanksgiving celebration of life. We followed the delicious fragrance and heard the unmistakable laughter.
With a glass of pink Belgian beer in her hand, there was our dear friend Sonya Garcia, “royal innkeeper” of Sonya’s Garden, in a white satin dress accented with huge red roses. She was affectionately greeting her well wishers who also came dressed in her La Vie en Rose-themed party.
“My beloved guests, it’s such a delight to throw this keeping-in-touch gathering of friends, relatives and kindred spirits, to celebrate our rendezvous with romance right now in this present moment, in order to savor and toast the romantic life thick with lusciousness,” she began her speech at her birthday party.
Her eyes sparkled as she spoke, her language laced with sweetness.
“If love is food, romance is Antonio’s pan-seared foie gras glazed with pink peppercorns. If love is dessert, romance is a petite serving of Nono’s Oblivion Chocolate Cake by Baba Ibazeta, elegantly served on bone china plate paired with steaming cinnamon basil tea on a matching bone china tea cup; or nibbles of Tokyo Milk Factory’s porcini and camembert cheese cookies.” Her smile dazzled; infectious, in fact. “If love is a dance, romance is tango or a cheek-to-cheek slow drag gently swaying to Frank Sinatra’s immortal song, You go to my head.”
“If love is a trip, romance is a journey on an Orient Express train or a ride through the park on a bike built for two.”
At her party, Sonya unleashed the poetess in her. And her penchant for life and love.
“We sometimes wonder, ‘What is the point of living if we know that we are going to die anyway?’ For me it is the thrill of falling in love the first time, being in love all the time and being romantically in love with life.
“We often confuse love with romance. Love is an emotion. Romance is its evocative expression. Romance reveals the depth and breath of a lover’s feeling in a particular way. Romance is the flourish, embellishment and poetic gesture.
“If love is gratitude, romance is forgiveness, compassion, generosity, contentment and peace of mind. So, let’s dandle and dilly-dally through our senior days, luxuriate in the simple abundance of joys by romancing the ordinary, feel the caress of this beautiful universe and be enraptured with sweet effervescence.
“As my heart overflows with gladness I thank you all profusely for your precious presence. Thank you Father (Fernando) Suarez for standing in for the son I never had. Thank you Rudy for leaving me in a huff, becoming my forever best friend. Our marriage may not have lasted but our romantic friendship has endured. I am content.
“So let’s pop the cork, give yourselves permission to over indulge without guilt.
Demolish the food lovingly prepared by my devoted staff!”
To show appreciation, her dear friends came forward. Elly Chiongbian brought Paris to Sonya’s Garden through her rendition of La Vie en Rose. Ramon Magsaysay awardee and former PEZA director general Lilia de Lima sang Perhaps Love. My hubby Benny Soliven sang and danced with the birthday celebrant to The Way You Look Tonight. For the program finale, Büm Tenorio serenaded Sonya the old-fashioned way with a popular kundiman Bituing Marikit accompanied by the talented trio of violinist, pianist and guitarist.
On our way home through the scenic Tagaytay ridge, we had a special passenger with us, Mang Resty. He is a happy person who loves his job as a longtime gardener at Sonya’s Garden. He nurtures those giant sunflowers, fragrant butterballs and prolific passion fruit vines that beautify Sonya’s Bed and Breakfast cottages. For over 20 years, Sonya’s Garden is his haven. From Mang Resty, we heard the best tribute of the day. These were treasured stories from his heart, full of Sonya’s overflowing thoughtfulness as an employer who simply delights in helping her community and the people around her thrive by reaching their dreams of a beautiful life.
(Would love to hear from you at miladayjewels@yahoo.com.)