Bibsy M. Carballo
Home weeks after Pete Roa, the husband of Boots Anson Roa, was laid to rest at the St. Therese Columbarium in Pasay, her children and the immediate family gathered together to discuss the future. Most of it centered on how Boots’ life would change now that Pete was gone.
There were suggestions that she move out of the spacious house in Dr. Lazcano, Quezon City
now that she was just by herself. A condo in Rockwell? " I just couldn’t see myself in that milieu," Boots tells us. "I like living in a house." Besides, her house is right in the center of all her activities – the ABS-CBN and GMA studios just five minutes away for her tapings; the DZMM teleradyo where she hosts a Sunday show with Willie Nepomuceno is nearby; the Mowelfund movie welfare outfit she heads another 15 minutes away. She decided she wouldn’t move.
However, as if willed by the heavens, she found herself suddenly the proprietor of a weekend home in Laguna Bel-Air, Sta. Rosa, Laguna.
The owners were selling the house completely furnished with appliances and air-conditioning in all the three rooms. However, they wanted the new owner to be someone they knew who would take care of the house and appreciate its value. Boots didn’t have to change much in the house. A little re-upholstering here and there; frames for the walls from her own collection; some furniture from the Quezon City house, and the Laguna place was good as new.
But what would she do with it? She hardly had time on her hands what with all her duties including teaching at the Ateneo and managing the PRIME foundation of her late husband. How could she even think of having the luxury of a vacation house out of town?
We saw in that question the answer itself. Boots had long been inviting us to spend a weekend in Sta. Rosa. Last week everything fell into place. Together with two other friends we journeyed out for a day of mahjong and scrabble, eating out, and just shooting the breeze in a new environment. The house was perfect for doing just that. It consisted of two lots on a corner with a sala-dining room, covered terrace, and driveway, functional kitchen, maid’s room and bath, plus a guest bathroom on the ground level. On the second floor were the master’s room and bath, plus two guest rooms and bath. It was a home away from home.
Boots says she has put up notices for rental or sale but in the meantime she has been bringing friends over. She is overwhelmed that she has Bishop Bacani and the parish priest of Laguna Bel-Air on the same street as hers. We drop in on the village administrator, pause to chat with the guards of the subdivision. Her neighbors come over to greet her. We hear mass at the chapel down the street, and share some tidbits with the priest before leaving. On the way home she says she had a really great time. We know why. And we know, too, why she has been given this retreat away from the city.
Email the author at bibsycarballo@yahoo.com.
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