WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS, Texas Style!

by Marisa Hernandez Yu

1. I go about my daily routine with "Awitin Mo Isasayaw Ko" playing in my mind. (I bought the CD before I left Manila and play it/sing it in the house, in the car. It's quite obnoxious--my daughter knows the refrain now. She has no clue what it means, though.)

2. I log on the the e-groups, Velada blog and Webshots several times a week (last week, it was several times a day.)

3. I've read the Velada program so many times the cover is already curled up.

4. I've emailed photos and recounted the experience to all relatives, friends, coworkers, clients and any possible person willing to see and listen.

5. I wonder if I should pack up and go back to Manila so my daughters can go to school at Assumption. (I have one more year to go for my oldest.)

After spending 18 years in the US, I felt like I was settled here and was very comfortable calling this country home. College, work, marriage, kids, had brought me to Houston and it has been a great home for me and my family. But after just 7 days in Manila last week, it seems like this has all been turned upside down. Our Silver Jubilee celebration has awakened so many emotions and memories and I feel that I've re-discovered a home away from home in the unmistakable tie that still exists for me with the Assumption and all that it is connected with, that is the education, the values, the friends, and the tradition.

I did not take too many photos (although I have a video that my mom took) so am counting on downloading others' photos. The one photo I do have to share is of the Houston Batch 81 contingent. It is so special to meet these 2 ladies from our batch living in the same city and to become good friends over the last 8 years considering we hardly ever spoke to each other while in high school. We are each other's families now after going through kid's birthday parties, baptisms, holidays, career changes, hurricane evacuation....and now the Velada.

Now that we know our husbands can survive without us, we're thinking...PEARL REUNION!


CITY OF HOUSTON: PERFECT ATTENDANCE!