IMPROMPTU CAFA REUNION

Kincaid's, Jack London Square, Oakland, California

Sept. 13, 2014 

It had to take Bess to make the impromptu reunion to happen! 

She came to San Francisco with Eddie (who had some business to attend to), thinking that the CAFA mini-reunion was on Sept. 13. She didn't know that it had been moved to Sept. 20 because Ben's son was celebrating his birthday of the 13th and the father and son had planned to spend the day together. Since Bess and Eddie had to be back in LA by Sunday, the only time we could all get together was late afternoon of Sept. 13. 

So, there we were -- Bess and Eddie, Ben and Tess, Mynna and Dynn, Alice, Milou, Teena and I -- at Kincaid's, a classy resto beside what looked like a yatch club at the Jack London Square in Oakland, having dinner and enjoying each other's company! Bess and Eddie drove 5 hours from LA Friday night, Mynna and Dynn drove from Sacramento 2 hours and picked up Ben and Tess along the way, Alice took the BART from Union City, while Milou, Teena and I came from our son-in-law's parents' place in Vallejo which was about 40 minutes away. 

Typically CAFA, it didn't take much to convince everyone to change whatever plans each one had already made, and come to the impromptu reunion! It had to be done in Oakland because traffic into San Francisco on a Saturday evening is just as bad as traffic on EDSA on a Friday night . . . even without the flooded streets! Ben chose the resto, Kincaid's, which had a wide choice of seafood dishes. We had calamare for starters. Clam chowder and shrimp bisque were the soups of choice. For the entree, some ordered steak, some had crab. Everything we ordered had fancy names! And, of course, we had good California white wine to go with the meal, although Dynn found it too sweet (but drank it anyway)! 

But it wasn't so much the food, but rather the company that we enjoyed. It was great to spend time with Dynn, Ben and Tess, Bess and Eddie and Alice whom we had not seen since Pala Mesa in 2012. Mynna we saw when she came to Manila and joined the trip to Silay and Iloilo in 2013. But like always, it seemed like we had not seen each other for a very long time! We, of course, talked about the people who were not present! Somehow, the topic of conversation kept on going back to who were grandparents already, or how many grandchildren does each of us have. Dynn surprised us that her eldest grandchild is already first year college. And Alice was even more surprising when she announced she'll be a great-grandmother in January! 

Before we all parted ways, Alice asked where and when the next grand reunion will be. No one could give an answer but someone (I think it was Bess) who asked "Isn't it going to be in Manila?" Bess also said she'll be going to Cagayan de Oro in January for her grandmother's 90th birthday. Mynna also mentioned she'll be in Manila in February. There will be a period in early February when both Bess and Mynna will be there. In true CAFA spirit, that sounds like a good reason for another reunion! 

By the way, Alice, Bess, Ben and Mynna took a lot of photos and hopefully will post these for everyone to see. Alice and Bess sent me some of the photos they took last night on my disposable celfone. I tried to text them to acknowledge receiving it but I can't figure out how to turn off the "predictive text" on the phone! I know Americans are good at many things, but I don't understand why they have predictive text!

Cheers!

Dinky


See slide show for more photos.