WHY AM I ATTENDING THE HOMECOMING?

By: Christine Dela Cruz-Avillon

Maryknoll High School of Cateel – Class of 1983

It's been three decades since the last the time I was onstage, impatiently waiting to receive my pseudo-diploma. Pseudo because it was made of blank paper, a usual practice for any school, for the printed real certificates of graduation will always come later. After a number of days of practice, just like any graduating candidate, I finally went up the stage, received my diploma, shook the hands of the principal and the guests of honor, and started enjoying the rest of the graduation ceremony. I had another thing to do though, to deliver my valedictory address. At that time, I wished I didn’t have that responsibility but I had to. It was indeed a job for me. I knew that I just had more amount of giddiness but I guess that all of my batch mates and all high school graduates for that matter felt that same way, too! Leaving the sweet exciting high school life in the province and facing college in the city with much hopeful enthusiasm is one point in my life that I cannot forget. And that is what is making me jittery now.  Will this golden homecoming generate the same excitement that it did back then after so many years?

Before I will give my answer, allow me to think aloud what could likely be the reason some alumni will not attend this affair. The most popular reason that I could think of is time or schedule. As we get older, life gets in the way of our wishes for we have heavier responsibilities now. We can no longer freely do what we want to. Another reason could be the budget as going home is always hinged on affordability. A few would be having hard time getting over their little failures during high school and also others are not receptive to be highlighted in their unaccomplished state of life and so they think. Finally, as I talk to one of my classmates, he thinks that the advent of technology enables everyone to get in touch with one another as often as they would making a face-to-face reunion unnecessary. A sizeable number of alumni have valid reasons and I perfectly understand and respect that, but for the rest? Come on! These are just excuses.

If you ask me why am I attending the homecoming? I have a number of reasons even heavier in weight than these excuses. Let me count them.

Back then, the youth in me couldn’t wait to step out and look forward to what laid ahead, this homecoming is more meaningful in that I am now able to look back, be more grateful for all the blessings, be more retrospect of what life was, is and will be.  That’s what makes this homecoming a pure blessing.

Blessing as it is, that’s my first reason. I consider this time to be a chance to give THANKS in its profoundest and truest meaning. For me, it is not enough to say “THANK YOU” because I would like to offer the best form of gratitude that I know. I will “give back” what I have in any form, be it in the form of talent, skill, time, services, money, and rest of the intangible assets I have that can be shared. In giving, especially involving large number of recipients, the focus will shift more on the GIFT than the giver. So why worry about myself, how I look, or what I am now? Bahala da sa sawayon ako, mo-igmaw gayud ako para magpakabana’ hasta magpasalamat. After all, what matters are my contributions significant or otherwise.

In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy sings, “When I think of home, I think of a place where there’s love and affection”.  As the saying goes, “home is where the heart is”. This is my second reason. I am lucky to have my high school Alma Mater in my own place. Despite the odds, despite the excuses that I am tempted to use, my desire to be home overpowers them all. For I know people at home will understand me, feel me, appreciate me, sincerely admonish me, sympathize with me and empathize on me. I don’t have to put my best foot forward and so it would be one of rarest times to be relaxed and complacent. Indeed, there’s no place like home. Ako Bodie mo-uli gayud sang igikanan kay dili baya ako makakadto daw hain na siyaw kung wala pa ako imatuto ng tarong ng kanak mga ginikanan hasta eskwelahan.

Celebration. Yes, this is my 3rd reason to go home. I would like to celebrate being a Maryknollian. A Maryknollian by heart is a Christian whose foot is always pegged on the ground. I always thank God for this. I might not be able to attend the celebration of another 50 years. I therefore would like to grab this last opportunity to join in a 50-year milestone of my Alma Mater.

I could enumerate countless other reasons to go home and attend the reunion but this one I consider the most interesting. My classmates would like to compare our present faces with our high school pictures and expect to be amused by the result. They expect to have fun while reliving and reminiscing our high school days, and I would like to do the same. I believe that as the older I get, the more that I will enjoy and be thrilled with this exercise. Ha ha, awon gayud sin-i panggihubon tungod sige hinikuhay! Surely, this 3-day affair will stay for long in my heart. Apil pa sang pagkatuug ko, madamguhan ko pa ngini. Whew, Im already excited.

So my dear fellow alumni, as we celebrate the 50th year of our Alma Mater Maryknoll in Cateel, let us all join hands in inviting and welcoming personally and virtually our more than 4,000 fellow graduates now spread all over the world to come home and join the celebration. We know that our hearts are where our formative years have been laid, where talents have been honed, where memories have been carved along the corridors of this institution.  To all beloved alumni and your families, welcome home.