Birthday Party Amid Pandemic

By: Veronica Leighton

Warm thank you’s to Via Times staff, family and friends who all bravely came out to celebrate my birthday (May 31) in conjunction with the official America Reopening of the three-month lockdown and, believe it or not, together with the weekend rioting and looting of the Antifas militants and the Black Lives Matter groups. So historical, indeed! In spite of everything that was going on, we all had a superb celebration held at the ourdoors space of Moretti’s Ristorante & Pizzeria in Rosemont. And, like little kids, we gleefully had so much to talk and laugh about, within the two-hour limit given to us to observe the lockdown rules.

Thank you to the endearing presence and precious gifts from those who came and celebrated with me on my special day, as shown on pictures below.

Special thank you to the following dear friends who could not attend the party but thoughtfully took a special day to see me and give me their birthday presents…Melody Rabor-Dizon, for the special treat at Chandler’s Golf Club (what a fun afternoon we had); Princes Alicia Monk, for her delizz hopia and lumpiang sariwa specialties, and Elizabeth Vasich, for the red roses, lychees and beautiful necklace.

To Ryan Tejero, missed you, but thank you for the endearing note…”Happy birthday to the most generous, very supportive and strong-spirited woman who I worked with in the media industry for over 20 years now! May you have a blessed many years ahead of you – ViaTimes-CPRTV Veronica Leighton is the Producer and Publisher of Chicago’s award-winning Filipino American Newsmagazine in the US. The Via Times was hailed by Philippine Migration Advocacy Media as 2019 Best Print Filipino Magazine in the United States.