With King… mayroong ‘forever’

MANILA, Philippines – Two years (June 14, 2014) into my marriage to widower/lawyer Francisco “King” Rodrigo Jr., son of the revered Senator “Soc” and 101-year-old Remedios Enriquez, a sense of “forever” continues to resonate in our union. Perhaps, with our respective ages of 77 and 71, timeless lessons learned and the wisdom and faith they have spawned, have taught us that “forever,” while transcending mortality, may be “lived” with joy and peace amidst the challenges and vicissitudes  of our earthly existence.

King and I feel so blessed that we did not heed the cajoling and prodding of many that in this late stage, “puwede na siguro live-in na lang; or MOMOL (make-out make-out) na lang. Mas simple at mas practical lang, given our ‘his and hers’ family situations.”

While these were all very tempting and offered the oft-trekked path in this modern age, King and I chose steadfastly to adhere to our “old-fashioned ways” and wait out the four-month courtship and seven-month engagement period, complete with the traditional “pamanhikan” and “despedida de soltera” participated in by the Roas and the Rodrigos, the latter led by his then 99-year-old mother.

In our many multimedia interviews, not a few raised the proverbial quizzical eyebrow at our moves. “Hindi na yata uso iyan. Lalo na sa edad ninyo.”

One of King’s second wedding anniversary gifts — the ‘most heartfelt and precious’ — to Boots

Even more were shocked that we were reserving “intimacies” for our “first night.” So much so that our dear, dear Ricky Lo called us at our  Richmonde Hotel Bridal Suite early in the morning after our wedding day and reception to ask, with all the casualness he could muster: “How was your first night?” Thus, this update which I feel King and I owe Ricky.

On to our third year as “elderly” man and wife, the honeymoon continues, albeit not earthshakingly, literally and figuratively. The romance permeates our every day: With words and acts of kindness, unheralded thoughtfulness and compassion — gifts from the over 50 years of our respective first marriages. We argue…but only when he dismisses reminders to take his maintenance medicines; drive long distances against traffic; and when I insist on spending my own money for my extended family and my personal advocacies. The latter King has branded as “cheating on him.” And yes, as we had intimated in a 2015 article by Nestor Torre, we shower together.

King’s virtues, loving nature, intelligence and integrity are now legend. They have sent many widows’, young women’s and interviewers’ hearts-a-flutter. Almost invariably, they would ask in near incredulity: “Mayroon  pa bang ganyan ngayon? May clone ba si Attorney o xerox copy kaya? Baka pwedeng makilala!”

If King were a consumer product, his USP (unique selling proposition) in marketing would be his talent and diligence at writing poems in the vernacular — “Tula” for his loved ones on multifarious themes. I have been the beneficiary of this prowess, with around 40 tulas written for and about me.

I treasure the many blessings that King’s love and our marriage have showered me with. I pray that I may always deserve them. I thank God sincerely for them, amidst thoughts that “somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good,” (credits to Julie Andrews in Sound of Music).

I proudly share one of King’s second anniversary gifts, to me the most heartfelt and precious.