I woke up with a hangover Sunday after the big celebration last Saturday night of the 50th Anniversary of the Sigma Tau Mu Sorority that was attended by over three hundred Tau Mu sisters, brothers and friends in Gatsby attire.
My head is spinning, my body aching and I have alcohol induced memory gaps but I’m very happy because what I suffered is just a reminder of how much fun I had.
Tau Mu, or The Fraternal Order of St. Thomas More, is so much more than just the fraternity I belong to. Literally and figuratively, it is my FAMILY.
Long before I became a member, I grew up in Tau Mu. The Lady Founder of the Sigma Tau Mu Sorority is my mom, Judge Virginia Hofileña-Europa, and I am close to most of the nine (9) founding fathers of the Tau Mu Fraternity. The late Larry Ilagan was my dad’s law partner and my Tito Ed Dacanay is still the senior partner of our law firm.
I have many relatives as fellow Tau Mus, not just from the Hofileñas like my Tita Bebot Sam, her daughter Maemae and our cousin Chelin Alug and her husband Abe, but also from the Europa-Sandoval clan like my cousin QQ Gumia and the Salutillo-Dureza family like my Papa Jess, Tito Jimmy and my cousin Sweetheart Aldevera, to name a few. Of course, I found my better half in the sorority, my beautiful wife Marlyn.
I also said figuratively because, over the years, I have become so close to many of the Order’s members, those senior to me as well as the younger batches most of whom were, and are, my students, that they are more than just fraternal brothers and sisters, which is why last night was very special. It was big and grand family reunion celebrating half a century of close relationships.
There was a lot of reminiscing and reconnecting between and among the attendees. There were even sisters and brods, like Brod Johnny “Agurooy” Secretaria, who came from abroad to attend. I was very happy that Labor Attache Angging Librado was able to come home from her job in Washington D.C. to be with us and that our very busy brod, Executive Secretary Bingbong Medialdea, was able to take some time off his super hectic schedule for some much deserved downtime with his brods and sis.
The entire night was alive and the feeling of camaraderie and celebration was contagious. Love, friendship and happiness was evident on everyone’s smiling faces and the mood within the venue was just electric as we sang, danced and drank the night away.
For this, I would like to give thanks to the special people who made it possible and who made everyone, especially my mom, ecstatic with happiness. My personal gratitude goes to the organizing team, headed, of course, by our gorgeous Lady Chancellor Anna Lou Igbalic with the able support of the team of Chinchin Talaver, Pet Pantojan, Pinky Cabreros, Gigi Gonzales-Talion, Mae Flores, Samae Kanda, Che Trinidad, Marikit Reginio, Madam Amet Enriquez, Dinah Tolentino, Fle Labanon, Judge Andrea Dela Cruz, Alou Sabuga, Rose Valdevieso and my lovely wife, Marlyn Europa. This being the affair of the sorority, the Tau Mu husbands and brods who played the role of “SULUGOON” shall remain unnamed.
It was truly one happy hangover.
