August 19, 2014. For people who’ve been through tough times with cancer, who have gone through hope and despair while watching helpless as their loved ones wasted away, Project Pink’s fundraiser last night was a breath of fresh air. A brainchild of cancer survivors who’ve become close friends, Project Pink is a support group for people faced with the dreaded C.
So when weeks ago Angie Laborte sold us tickets to Stage Zero, a concert for a cause featuring The 70s Superband at Hard Rock Cafe, our group of friends immediately said yes. It was a date, we all agreed.
When I called Mongsie yesterday to see if we could go together, Mongsie was ambivalent about going. She urged me to go anyway saying Chloe would be there. Apparently, Miri and Marie were not going either. Bea said she was too busy and tired. So, I went alone but not after checking if another friend Pam could join me. Luckily, Pam agreed and I was glad for her company. I didn’t want to go alone to Hard Rock. 
To my surprise, Mongsie and Chloe were already there, drinking margaritas. After a quick update on what everyone was up to and lots of sound advice on dating from my friends, we settled in to watch the band perform.
Soon, Pam and then Bea, who had changed her mind because of Pam’s prompting, arrived. Another surprise! The young women went off to the other room to talk. We crowded ourselves into a little table at the back of the packed room.
What a performance it was! Pinoy OPM from when we were young.
Guests sang along, we danced, moving to the beat of music we had experienced life’s happy and sad moments with, forgetting heartaches and pains, shedding fears and sorrows, peeling off the years, and for a fleeting hour, feeling young and carefree and on top of the world once more.
They say that laughter is the best medicine, but music, I dare say, is the balm that soothes the soul. It is the trigger that can bring back a flood of memories come a-calling. It can magically transport you back in time to wherever you most desire to be. And if by any lucky chance you happen to be listening to music with someone you had shared life’s special moments with, you get to relive that previous moment one more time. And fall in love all over again. With a tinge of envy, I smiled as I saw old couples holding hands that night. I sent a silent prayer up to Mike.
On the short drive back home, Bea and I sang along to her collection of old songs. Each one quietly thinking of loved ones gained and lost to the dreaded C. Of hellos and goodbyes. Of love invited in, and then shut out. Dreaming of how life’s next chapter will unfold. As for me, the song we sang lightheartedly felt strangely ominous.
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered… am I.