Macrine's 80th Birthday Celebration

Macrine, Me and her birthday cake

The day started at 3AM when Macrine woke up with chest pain, headaches and gasping for air. I gave her an aspirin. I try to massage the area that is painful and she complained it hurts. I waited until 4AM and decided to bring her to the emergency room of the Mercy Hospital San Juan Branch. As soon as we arrived, an EKG was taken. It took about 15 minutes to learn that her EKG was normal. Then they took a chest Xray and Laboratory tests including urine. At 8:00 AM while waiting for the results, I was able to talk to the doctor. I informed him that today is Macrine's 80th Birthday and we are expecting about 25 guests at 2PM. The doctor answered that I am glad I told him otherwise he will order more tests and we may not be able to go home before 2PM. At exactly 9AM we were allowed to go home with suggestion that we follow Macrine's treatment with our primary care physician. All the tests were negative and Macrine did not suffer a heart attack.

At 11AM, my daughter Dinah ( she coordinated the party) arrived and started set-up. At 2:15PM most of the guests had arrived except for my nephew ( from Australia-My name sake)who is a professional videographer. There were lots of food-honey baked ham, chicken macaroni salad, potato souffle, variety of salads, sushi, green salads, Hawaiian rolls, sweet rice cake and drinks. I was planning to buy pancit from the Pinoy store in the morning- long life symbolism, but I was tired from our 5-hour experience at the emergency room. Ditas brought the delicious birthday cake from Safeway. So, this a Pinoy party with only one Pinoy dish. Very unusual indeed!

The surprise of the party was the arrival of Dan and Nilda(Valdez)Johnson from Modesto. Dan and Nilda were long time friends from Modesto since 1968. The Johnsons gave Macrine a dozen dark red roses. Dave Katague arrived at 3PM, time to serve the cake. More photo and video sessions. Carenna sang( with guitar) two songs for her Lola( thank you, little Pangga). Our Italian-American neighbor and Casino buddy, Lina Edison, sang O Solo Mio in Italian. Lanie and Alex Chalfin with their two kids( Wesley and Samantha) arrived with sushi and rice cake. The last guests to arrive were Yuka and Yuri Maeda( daughters of Jean) with Yuka's husband, Alex.

At about 5:30 PM Macrine was getting tired and took her medications then went to take a nap. By 6PM all the guests were gone with the exception of my oldest grandson Ian Katague King. Ian and Dave ( my nephew) spent almost 5 hours talking about videos and photography. Dave is scheduled to fly home to Sydney, Australia tonight.

Yesterday was indeed a day to remember. Again Happy Birthday-My Love. Macrine and I are now in our 59th year of marital bliss. Again thanks to all our relatives and friends who made Macrines' 80th birthday a success. In addition my special thanks to all who sent their birthday greetings to Macrine in my Face Book page.

Please read my FB page for videos and more photos during Macrine's 80th birtday celebration.