Reinventing Sharon In METRO October 2007

I had to do a doubletake when I passed the magazine shop display window the other day.

Whoa! Si Sharon nga ba yan? Yes, si Sharon nga!

There is she was, weighing much less than when I last saw her on television or on the huge billboards that dot EDSA. Hooray for her! Sharon joined the league of 40something women last year. This year she appears to be on the threshold of a serious re-invention of the self by being more authentic. For the first time, in this month's issue, she reveals to Palanca award-winning writer Ramil Gulle, that for many years she was a chain-smoker (blech) but that she has finally kicked the habit. Yet, she is human enough to admit that she still struggles with it once in a while. This is a true story folks. Sharon is a childhood friend. As a child, I grew up and lived on the same street where her Tita Helen Sotto lived. We would see each other during children's parties and hang out way before "Mr DJ" became a hit.

I would watch Sharon from the sidelines for many, many years. Keeping track of her joys and woes and once in a while we would bump into each other during showbiz functions. In spite of her Megastar status, she would always be the first to yell my name from across a room - "Catheeeee!" and I have always known her to be warm and accomodating.

Thus, when I saw her looking fab on the cover of Metro, my heart was warmed. She's clearly in a new phase in her life now, with a lot of things going on simultaneously - an adult daughter who is wonderfully gorgeous and very much successful, a new movie with the Aga Muhlach (another sweetheart of a man), going back to school and earning a degree, and a lovelier physique. Sharon's battles have always mirrored the battles of my generation of women. Her re-invention, once again echoes, the phase that many of us younger 40somethings find ourselves in. Congrats Shawie on your latest laurels.

I've been reading METRO now regularly, for many, many months. In fact, it is the only magazine that I buy and read from cover to cover. There are a lot of interesting, relevant and well-written stories, new things and places to try out,and its lay-out is crisp and clean - easy on a 40something's myopic eyes. In fact, I would venture to say that from among the magazines available today, METRO is the only one that addresses a lot of the issues that run through a midlifer's mind :) Congratulations to Mel, Joy, Alya and the rest of the METRO team for a job always well-done! METRO is Thelma Sioson - San Juan's legacy to legions of women like myself who are always in search of a good magazine to read. Having recetly retired from ABS-CBN publishing, I am quite confident that she will "ressurect" again somewhere, soon :)