My baptism was held on May 24, 1998, at 11AM. Lots of relatives, most of whom I'd never met before, came to Baguio to help us out in having me baptized, and, of course, in celebrating the occasion of my special day. I actually slept through most of the actual ceremony, so, I can't say a whole lot about my actual baptism. But, I can say that I didn't cry a whole lot! I did notice that it was kind of crowded in the cathedral, with so many other kids getting baptized as well. 

After the ceremony ended, with me baptized as a Roman Catholic, we all headed to Hotel Supreme for my reception. The actual place where the reception was held (Margarita Hall) was pretty big. They had a stuffed toys display made in the hall, so, of course, I took some time to play with those. Then, at about 12 noon, the guests started coming in. My Dad had a brief entertainment package planned out for everyone, which went as follows: 

1. Dad played "My Heart Will Go On" on the piano. He messed up on one part, but otherwise, everyone really loved his performance, probably because the song is so popular. 
2. Uncle Allen played "Marching Season" on the piano. He actually played it from memory, which was quite impressing. No one but Dad and Aunt Bernadette seemed to notice how he messed up on two separate instances in that song. 
3. Aunts Ladyline, Camille, Bea, Arielle Kaye, Roxanne, and Uncles JR, Jog, and Ching danced to "Lollipop", a dance song by Aqua. They danced pretty well, considering that 4 of them weren't even supposed to be dancing in that number in the first place! 
4. Aunt Bernadette played "Close To You" on the piano. The song sounded really complicated to play, but very pleasing to the ear. No one but Dad and Uncle Al seemed to notice that she made mistakes on two separate instances in that song. 

After the entertainment, lunch was served! A 4 course meal with soup and dessert was da bomb! Too bad I didn't get to try anything other than the soup...:( 

After lunch was done, it was time to cut my baptismal cakes! One was vanilla, the other was chocolate. Both had white frosting. Grandma Vilma had the idea of asking all of my godparents to slice the cakes. So, they all lined up for a hockey's-end-of-a-series style handshaking session, and then proceeded to slice the cakes for everyone else to enjoy. Dad had the nerve to put white frosting all over my face after the cake-slicing! 

Anyways, here's my godparents team roster! 

• Arvi Joy Castillo
• Laila Castillo
• Immaculate Corpuz
• Roselle de Guia
• Marissa de Leon
• Emily Garcia
• Dana Herrera
• Christine Marie Limjap
• Bernadette Lopez
• Evangeline Maranon
• Hazel Marinas
• Yvonne Pimentel
• Rosalyn Soria
• Judy Yan
• Gerard Aquino
• Allen Baquilar
• Peter Catajan
• John Jay de los Reyes
• Noli Flores
• Patrick Galamay
• Jason Go
• Kevin Kaneshiro
• Joeneil Manantan
• Romeo Medina
• James Nomura
• Roland Quilala
• Roldan Silva
• Aldwin Sombrito
• Benny Tan

In the days that followed, I had lots of fun playing with, talking to, and basically hanging out with my grandma and grandpa. In fact, in the 2+ weeks that I got to spend with my grandparents, I learned quite a few things: 

• I learned how to sit up, with a bit of assistance. Call it an assisted "sit-up"!
• I also learned how to roll over from a prone position to a supine
• Finally, I learned how to walk, with a "walker", of course!

Dad went with grandma and grandpa to the airport, and didn't get back home until after my afternoon visit to the doctor. When I saw Dad, I felt happy, because I thought he came home with my grandparents. But, I looked around, and only saw Dad. So, I thought, maybe if I had Dad help me with my sit-ups, grandma and grandpa would stop hiding, and come to me and smile and laugh and everything they always did when I did one of things they taught me. I did 5 sit-ups with Dad, and after each one, I kept looking around, hoping to see them smile at me. Then, uncle Allen came home, and I looked around to see if grandma and grandpa came with him. I went with uncle Al to look in their room for them, but they weren't there. I looked everywhere for them that day, but couldn't find them. Tears kind of welled up in my eyes, but I didn't cry. I do somewhat miss them, though, and occasionally I'd still look around for them when I walk in my walker, or roll over on the bed, or, of course, do my sit-up. I'll tell you what, though: I can't wait to see grandma, grandpa, and uncle Al again!!!