There will be no grand ballroom celebration – with matching cotillion, roses, waltz, glittery gowns etc – for my daughter Arizza who turned 18 today.
Preparations made five months ago with well-known GMA 7 commercial director and Timberland neighbor Eric Pablo for a full-scale debut party with all the she-bang glitter at the EDSA Shangrila Hotel or any hotel of Arizza’s choice simply vanished into thin air (Sorry Eric, maybe we'll just apply your grant theatrical plans in young Ashia's debut).
“Debut party, oh please!” is my daughter’s expression, with eyes rolling, when reminded of her incoming birthday the few months back. It's amazing how she can turn back on such kind of grand affair after attending all of her friends' and classmates' expensive debut parties. This makes her probably among the very few among her friends not to celebrate one.
In the end, Arizza settled for a family dinner with the family in a Chinese restaurant tonight. This weekend there will be a simply overnight party at our weekend house with few friends from the UP Industrial Engineering class where she is an oblation scholar (earned by landing Top 7 among 60,000 examinees in the UP entrance exam two years ago).
For sparing us the big expense in school, we were ready to spend a small fortune for a grand debut but Arizz has only one wish: For her to instead use part of her cash gift to buy a Canon DLSR camera with video for use in the activities of the Kristiyano-Islam Peace Library (She probably got tired of borrowing my Canon SLR for Kris activities).
What can we parents say except to thank God for giving us a self-giving, humble, down-to-earth daughter who is the eldest among three siblings. (Pls also read how Arizz opted to donate part of her $4,000 prize as winner of the world Zonta youth leadership award to Kris Libraries and scholars at this link (http://www.krislibrary.com/1/post/2011/08/young-muslim-donates-4000-p168000-zonta-award-prize-to-empower-muslim-womenchildren.html#comments).
Happy Birthday Dear Arizz! May God/Allah reward you with more success and good health for your selflessness!
Preparations made five months ago with well-known GMA 7 commercial director and Timberland neighbor Eric Pablo for a full-scale debut party with all the she-bang glitter at the EDSA Shangrila Hotel or any hotel of Arizza’s choice simply vanished into thin air (Sorry Eric, maybe we'll just apply your grant theatrical plans in young Ashia's debut).
“Debut party, oh please!” is my daughter’s expression, with eyes rolling, when reminded of her incoming birthday the few months back. It's amazing how she can turn back on such kind of grand affair after attending all of her friends' and classmates' expensive debut parties. This makes her probably among the very few among her friends not to celebrate one.
In the end, Arizza settled for a family dinner with the family in a Chinese restaurant tonight. This weekend there will be a simply overnight party at our weekend house with few friends from the UP Industrial Engineering class where she is an oblation scholar (earned by landing Top 7 among 60,000 examinees in the UP entrance exam two years ago).
For sparing us the big expense in school, we were ready to spend a small fortune for a grand debut but Arizz has only one wish: For her to instead use part of her cash gift to buy a Canon DLSR camera with video for use in the activities of the Kristiyano-Islam Peace Library (She probably got tired of borrowing my Canon SLR for Kris activities).
What can we parents say except to thank God for giving us a self-giving, humble, down-to-earth daughter who is the eldest among three siblings. (Pls also read how Arizz opted to donate part of her $4,000 prize as winner of the world Zonta youth leadership award to Kris Libraries and scholars at this link (http://www.krislibrary.com/1/post/2011/08/young-muslim-donates-4000-p168000-zonta-award-prize-to-empower-muslim-womenchildren.html#comments).
Happy Birthday Dear Arizz! May God/Allah reward you with more success and good health for your selflessness!
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