It's Our Golden Wedding Renewal of Vows

We met when we were college students in Iloilo City. I was in my second year at the West Visayas State College which is now a University. I was taking up BSE major in Elementary Education while he was taking up BS Mechanical Engineering at the nearby Western Institute of Technology. We were also neighbors. His boarding house was close to mine. I was on my way home from school that afternoon of January 30, 1965, when he crossed my path and greeted me. He introduced himself politely and told me that I looked familiar that's why he approached me. He wanted to find out if I studied high school at the Colegio de la Purisima Concepcion in Roxas City. He said he was one year ahead of me. I told him that I could not remember having seen him at all. Then he offered to help me carry my project that was on top of my other stuff. He was polite and looked friendly. I let him walk with me up to the gate of my boarding house. During that time, our boarding houses shared the same telephone line. That night, he was lucky to get hold of the line and called me. Since then, he had been regularly calling me.

After that first meeting, we got to know each other better when he started calling, paid me a visit whenever possible, and picked me up in school on his spare time. I admired him for going with me in attending Mass and other church activities. He would invite us with my boardmates for a snack but sometimes, it was just the two of us. One afternoon, he picked me up in school, dropped by a refreshment parlor before proceeding home. It was there that he proposed his love for me. I didn't answer but I was aware that he knew I had special feelings for him that developed because of his friendly ways and refined manners. He made me feel that I was special and important. With him, I felt comfortable and in good hands. I myself, couldn't understand these strange feelings that enveloped me, something I couldn't put into words. He did not demand an answer immediately. I just made it clear that we would not be serious yet in our relationship because I would like to finish my studies first, a dream for my family. Being my first boyfriend, he was my first kiss, too. It was a memorable gentle kiss, an expression of his true love for me. Five years later, with our parents' consent, we married on the Feast of the Three Kings or Epiphany (January 4, 1970), officiated by then Bishop Antonio Frondosa.

5 Children: Webster Palomar (BS Medical Technology, Doctor of Medicine, and BS Nursing) Sheila Marie Palomar Tejada (Doctor of Dental Medicine and BS Nursing) Sheldon Palomar (BS Marketing and BS Nursing) Merriam Joy Palomar Palo (BA Communication Arts and AD Nursing) Marion Angeli Palomar Martinez (BS Nursing) 11 Grandchildren: Sofia Ysabel Palomar, Inigo Mari Palomar, Lorenzo Gabriel Palomar, Angelo Nathaniel Tejada, Cecilia Amara Tejada, Pio Elijah Tejada, Evo Sebastian Palomar, Eva Samantha Palomar, Joseph Marcus Palo, Meredith Jewel Palo, and Liam Christian Martinez

We were living apart after our wedding on January 4, 1970. He had to go back to Q.C. and I had to stay behind because of my teaching job. Thanks to cousin, Grace, I was able to transfer to Manila on July 27, 1972. The transition period was challenging. Then more big challenges came, when we started having children. We experienced fear and anxiety when our children would get sick and hospitalized. But with God's grace, we found strength and comfort from each other. Sending our children to a good school was our big dream. Their dad worked hard to make that dream come true. Thankful to his friend, Engr. Ely Durana, who helped him get the job that he held until his retirement. It was there that he met a businessman who offered him a part-time job as a salesman. He also ventured on a small-scale business that was profitable. I was surprised and impressed of how he managed his income and resources. With proper guidance, strong financial and moral support, our children established self-discipline and good attitude. They finished and obtained their college degrees in the expected period of time. As our family was growing, we thought that it was time to move to a bigger house. We moved to our home in Novaliches, Q.C. on May 18, 1987, just as our eldest son entered high school. Then came a teaching job offer in Houston, Texas. To be in a foreign land, far away from one's family was really hard and sad to think about. But I set my emotions aside for my family. Before the end of March 2001, my husband and 2 younger daughters came to Houston, Texas to live with me. It was a new life for us while the older children back home have already finished with their degrees. Then one at a time, our children got married and had families of their own. As grandparents of 11 grandchildren, we enjoy babysitting and taking care of them. We also enjoy our trips back home every year to visit family, relatives, and friends. We're thankful to God, despite our age, we are still able to travel.

We were both in love and mature when we decided to get married after five years of being steady. When we started living together, the period of adjustment was tough, but we've gone through it. We faced many challenges along the way but we persevered and survived because of our love and trust for each other. To avoid conflict, we agreed to have the same stand, manner, and decision in raising our children, on how and what we wanted them to be. I took care of guiding them in their studies and looking after their needs in school. He assumed most of the responsibility on the financial needs of the family. I was lenient and understanding about how he spent his free time and never questioned him when he came home late at night. This served as a good motivation for him to look for a part-time job as a salesman after office hours and on weekends. We were lucky to have employed an ever faithful and trustworthy househelp who took good care of our five children and did the household chores efficiently. When our children were grown up already, I accepted an offer of my supervisor to be her co-author in writing elementary grades math books. I had to stay overnight for a week at the publication house especially when we were rushed to finish our work. I would also join a group of authors to go on provincial tours to act as facilitator during seminars for teachers. I give credit to my husband for my successful and colorful teaching career. He was always very supportive and proud of my accomplishments. Modesty aside, I was an accomplished and multi-awarded outstanding teacher in the Philippines. I could not have achieved this far if I've been restricted from staying longer beyond my school duties. We worked as a partnership in raising our children to make them productive. Most important, we put Christ in the center of our married life. Our children and our vows served as the strong binding force that made us stick together despite all the odds and challenges.

We would like to keep our bond strong: Stay and do things together, travel and visit family, relatives, and friends. Take good care of each other. We would have a lot of time to reminisce our past and enjoy the trip down the lane. Grateful that we are able to have that experience with each other. Our past has helped bring us to where we are today. We will oversee how our children and their families are doing. We would enjoy bonding with our grandchildren as they grow up, shower them with love and attention. We wish to see them close as a family, with love and respect to each other. We want our children to continue and live up to the family traditions: respect the elders, support each other, live a simple life, prepare for the future, and keep practicing the Catholic faith. Despite my disability, there are still trips that we would like to take. We want to go to places that we haven't been to yet especially beautiful places in the Philippines. We're curious to see the Rice Terraces, Benguet and other places in the Mountain Province, the beautiful islands of Bohol, Palawan, and Gigantes. I want to accompany my husband explore the beauty of Mindanao and visit our kins who we seldom meet. Of course, we still consider going to the Holy Land, Lourdes, France, and other places in Europe. We're interested on the River Cruise on the Rhine or the Caribbean Cruise. We hope and pray that, despite our age, we would still be fit to travel. We consider ourselves blessed and lucky to have reached this far, fifty years of our married life. We have countless treasured and happy memories. Ours is a never-ending love story. It started from a casual friendly greetings that gradually developed into a committed relationship. We realized, we wanted to spend our life with each other together. And we pray that we continue to live happily and grow old gracefully together.