MEMORIES OF LIFE AND LOVE

On a balmy Monday afternoon, that time of day when you're raring for a nap after a good lunch, you find a horde of energetic people in a happy huddle at the roofdeck of the Sunshine Place Senior Recreation Center on Jupiter St. in Makati.

- CHING M. ALANO

The room is filled to the brim with fun, laughter and camaraderie. Outside, the sun has never shone brighter than in this part of the throbbing metro.

They came from varied professions and are now gainfully retired. If they have one thing in common, it is that, yes, they're all seniors and have come today to share their stories. Stories of their lives, of bittersweet love and broken hearts, of sweet secrets they've never dared to share, of basking in the sunrise and chasing dreams even in the twilight of their years.

"In my privileged youth, it was inculcated in my mind that I should marry a doctor or a lawyer; if not, I should get an Indian chief because at least he's a chief," relates Len Torres Fernandez, the former much-sought-after belle of the ball. "I married a doctor and ended up as a doormat wife who did everything I was told. One day, I looked in the mirror and reality just slapped me in the face."