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Today, Dec 26,2011, is the 93rd birthday of my Lola Betty.  I am so lucky that I still have her in my life.  We are extremely close and she has been a true force in my life.  From taking care of me when my parents would leave me with her, all the way to the start of my career by buying my fist sewing machines for my business.  In fact, she even ordered 2 to 3 dresses a week just so that I would have work!

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It was my  deep relationship with my grandmother that made me love fashion so much.  She was always so well-dressed.  She was close family friends with the great Ramon Valera.   Because she was an ambassador’s wife, she needed a lot of clothes.  She lived in a time where there wore  specific clothes for particular  occasions.  Day wear, luncheon attire, cocktails and black tie.  Most of her clothes were all done for her.   I remember her telling me that when she reached that menopausal time in her life, she unleashed  her angst by ordering clothes from all the best designers in Manila.  She made her rounds and favored RT Paras and Ramon the most.

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Beatriz Castillo-Laurel on her 18th birthday wearing a Ramon Valera.

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When I was growing up, she had a seamstress working in her house.  I remember seeing how Manang Edith would cut and sew  practically anything that my lola could think of.  Tea towels, napkins, cushion covers, table cloths.  Really anything!  She would also do the day/house  dresses of Lola.  I remember vividly  one day, I just took a pencil and asked Edith to revise the neckline and the sleeves of one of my Lola’s dresses.  Of course, I had to show it to Lola first and she was delighted with the outcome.  I was 9 or 10years old  then.   To this day, we still have this relationship.  Although she hardly goes out of her house, she still dresses her best even just to watch her favorite soap operas.

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This 93rd birthday of hers is special because it will be hosted by her grandchildren.  We all offered to pay for the party and celebrate her life.  I asked my favorite cousin Alexis Laurel -Loinaz, who is a journalist in New York, to write a speech for me to read at the party.  I have attached that speech here in my blog entry so that you could understand further my devotion and love to my Grandmother.

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Please enjoy.  Let me greet my Lola Betty a happy happy birthday!   Thank you so much for everything.  I am eternally grateful for the unconditional love and the never ending support you have given me all my life!  I LOVE YOU!

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HUGS!
RAJO!

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Scent of a Woman-  By Alexis Laurel-Loinaz

Funny how we remember people by many different things. Sometimes, it might be a song. Or, perhaps, it’s the memory of a place. Or, it might even be the taste of a dish that reminds us of the exact same way someone else used to make it.
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In Lola Betty’s case, it was always a scent. And that scent was her perfume: Joy By Jean Patou. Sweet. Complex. Memorable. Classic. Much like the lady wearing it, really.
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After all, when it comes to Lola Betty, scent is her sensibility. Scent announced her arrival in a room. And it mourned her departure after she left — an olfactory echo wafting in the air that said, “Yes, Lola Betty was here.”
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Perfume is just one of the many scents that punctuate our memories of Lola Betty. There’s the aroma of the wonderful chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies that she used to make at her old house in Dasmarinas Village. Or the sweet-salty whiff of her sukiyaki, which was to die for. Or, the fragrant garden than she keeps, lush with grass, greenery and flowers.
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There’s also the scent of Lola and Lolo’s old house in Matabungkay, which smelled of wood and sand, of summer and sea, of holidays and laughter. One particular time, in the early 1980s, we all spent Holy Week there. And one afternoon, Lolo and Lola came out to go for a swim. It was one of the few times we remembered seeing them take a dip in the ocean: Lolo in his swim shorts, Lola in her bathing suit. She looked smashing. At one point, Ninang Ditas pointed to Lola in her bathing suit and joked to all of us: “O ano, sexy ba?! Walong anak ang naggaling diyan!” Lola burst out laughing.
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And yet … our scent memories of Lola Betty go beyond the smell of perfume, or food, or beachtime revelry. For us, Lola Betty was always fragrant with one intangible quality: elegance. Silver-gold hair spun into a graceful chignon. Exquisite jewelry decked out on each arm. Impeccably tailored clothes that cut a striking silhouette.
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As always, Lola never looked anything but her best — even for the smallest things. We’ll never forget seeing Lola in Vancouver, as she sat on the couch watching TV in the living room. She was dressed in pearl earrings and a pretty dress. “I put on my earrings, I dress up, and then I watch TV!” she said back then, with a healthy sense of humor about it all.
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Which brings us all back to her perfume. It’s fitting that the perfume’s name is Joy. Because that’s always how Lola approached life: joyous and good-natured.
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Without a doubt, joy is also the one thing we all feel here tonight, as we celebrate Lola’s momentous, 93rd birthday.