Chester Francis-Jackson, Contributor

(Left)Birthday boy Nicholas Benjamin with girlfriend Mar-lee Sommerville and (Right)Suzie Benjamin (centre) with sisters Marilyn Bogle (left) and Diana McCauley at Benjamin's 50th birthday party, held at Montgomery Road, Stony Hill, on Saturday, March 24. - photos by Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

And so, the fabulously stunning Suzie Benjamin (the former Mrs. Kenny Benjamin) and their son, Nicholas Benjamin, both attained significant chronological milestones, days apart last month. Nicholas on the 19th, making him a Pisces, and his mother on the 23rd - an Arian.

So then, little wonder here that she, by temperament, is the reserved, scholarly type, with a penchant for things cerebral, and natural beauty that she is. Her son, on the other hand, is equally reserved, has his mom's penchant for the cerebral, but is given to acts of spontaneity and is most definitely a chip off the old block when it comes to a zest for life, balanced by that sense o and philanthropy.

Marital union

Though Kenny and Suzie Benjamin's marital union has ended, they have remained fast friends and very proactive in the lives of their children, Nicholas and Brooke. So, while some raised a quizzical eyebrow that a party to celebrate Suzie's 50th and her son's 21st would be hosted by her ex-husband at his Stony Hill residence, for those in the know, it really was par for the course.

And so last Saturday it proved one fabulous celebration, and then some!

Logistically, hosting a joint birthday celebration, for a mother celebrating the advent of the fabulous 50s, and her son, attaining his 21st birthday, could be fraught with organisational considerations engendered by the perceived generational divide. But this was the Benjamins, it was really one fabulous celebration, and nothing but!

Now, you know there are parties and there are parties! Well, pumpkins, the beauty of this occasion was the fact that this was a celebration of life, family and friends, and the bounties that God has bestowed upon them. There really was no generational divide, but a melding with friends of both Suzie and Nicholas coming together to celebrate in a special manner. And celebrate they did.

Oh sweet-things, what a night! It was sheer beauty of the highest order to experience.

And so it was, that with the music pumping, old friends meeting and greeting each other, the air was defiantly one of familial fabdom. Just pure love and affection and the joys shared by friends and relatives divided by miles, that make occasions such these more special.

Guests jetted in from all over for the occasion. The partying began from the very get-go with a champagne prelude in the gardens. And when we say champagne, we do mean a buffet of the premium elixir here, with Moet & Chandon, being the preferred bubbly. And with a choice of premium libations available, as well as some of the more hip drinks for the young at heart.

Partied like a diva

Dovecakes, the birthday girl partied like a diva; the birthday boy and his belle had eyes for no one else; the host and his companion, the lovely Aloima Suarez, partied like a house on fire! Friends and family members and their children all took to the dance floor and shook things up. So fine it was that even the evening's compere for the brief interlude forgot to officially say welcome. Harold Brady seemed to have been overcome by the occasion, and may have missed the mark, but for my word, it was most definitely one fabulous party, made more so by the fabulous fare and society.

Among those out sharing in the festivities were: Head of EU Delegation to Jamaica, Belize, The Bahamas, Turks & Caicos and the Cayman Islands, HE Ambassador Marco Mazzacchi-Alemanni; Honorary Consul of Iceland Robert MacMillan; father of the birthday girl and grandfather of the birthday boy Peter McCauley and his fab wife, Dawn McCauley; Fred Hanley and wife Diana McCauley; their sibling the charming Marilyn Bogle, in from Canada; the beautiful Brooke Benjamin who also jetted in from Canada for the celebration; the stunning Sheila Benjamin McNeil and daughter, the lovely Ashleigh Fernandez; the birthday boy's belle, Marlee Sommerville who, along with her sister Callyn Sommerville and Shawn Maynard, all jetted in from Canada for the big occasion; his nanny 'Cherry' Norrine; Joe and Tracey Matalon, their son Mayer Matalon, who jetted in from Florida for the do.

Also out were Las Chin and wife Dr. Eileen Gonzalez Chin; Hugh and Rosemary Pringle, who also jetted in from Florida; George and Debbie Cummings and their son Scott Cummings; Paul and Becky Stockhausen; the fabulous Cindy Breakspeare; Ron Brown and his lovely wife Valerie Juggan-Brown; John Burrows and companion Judy Angel Markes; Ian Garbutt and companion Sonia Khan; Evon and Betsy Williams; the dashing Bill Edwards and fabulous companion Janet Farrow; Harvey Lynn and Allison Taffe; Phillip Armstrong; Sonita Morin-Abrahams; Larry Watson and lovely Sharon Lake; Doug and Karen Brown; Jason and Jackie Sharpe; Mervyn and Sherine Ayre; the fabulous Dr. Kim Brown Ciurlino; Al Niazi; Peter Reid and wife Margaret Sylvester; Ingrid Fitt; Rajiv Bakshi and companion Dorothea Gordon-Smith; Tarun and Catherine Handa; Robert and Odette Epstein; the fabulous Sonja Sutherland Dumetz; Robert Haughton; the fabulous Francesca De Majo, of Malta; Vikram and Aditi Dhiman, plus a number of others.