LUCKY SEVEN

The Estepar-Patino brood at Kawilihan Resort 1977

Lolo Dinoy and Lola Maris with their children. Standing, left to right: Jose Aureo, "Awan" (born 1948), Emma Ruby*, "Langga" (born 1952), Jose Maria, "Jomari" (born 1950), Alice Lourdes, "Alilou", "Nene Alice" (born 1932), Jose Bernardo, "Nono" (born 1943). Seated, left to right: Stella*, "Inday" (born 1946), Lolo Dinoy, Lola Maris, Lucia Noemi, "Neneng" (born 1939). The age difference between the eldest, Alice, and the youngest, Langga, is twenty years.

*Funny background story about the real names of Inday Stella and Langga. Lola liked to send her servants on errands that sometimes would have been done better if she did them herself. In legal documents, until recently, Stella's name was Cristina Auxilium. Why such a unique name but never used? Apparently, according to Tita Langga, the name of the maid that Lola sent to file Auntie Stella's official birth certificate was Cristina. Stella was the name she always meant to have. Tita Langga, on the other hand, was baptized "Emma Ruby". But somebody else filed her birth certificate and she ended up legally with the name Maria Ruby. She still feels a little bit robbed of the name she wished she had. Above, I chose to list their names not by their legal names but by the names Lola and Lolo meant to give them. Moral of the story? File your own child's birth certificate.