Sidra, downtown Los Angeles, March 2004 I met Sidra on the last day of one of the high school retreats where I help out. She had a spirally head of hair and a colgate smile. I didn’t know how someone as funny, brave and crafty as Sidra had slipped past my radar the whole weekend, […]

Just because I don’t get a summer vacation anymore doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the season all the same. Jen has the right idea, so I’m following suit. Here’s what I’m going to do this summer: I will swim in at least three different bodies of water. I will buy my fresh produce at the […]

This time, I tried to see everything with new eyes. I’ve been back to the Philippines at least a dozen times since we left in 1976. It’s less like a vacation, I tried to explain to co-workers and friends, and more like going to Grandma’s house. Grandma’s house just happens to be 7,000 miles away. […]

These days feel like a slow motion chess match: Black and white pieces gliding across the board. Sidra going away to college. Tonia moving up north. Michelle leaving Columbia. Kris jumping coasts. It’s hard to keep track of everyone going everywhere and, when I do try to, I just get sad. I’m going to miss […]

26 May 2004 | A roadtrip arm-out-the-van-window shot of the Pacific Ocean as we drive south of Manila to Grandma’s house in Bicol. The roads were rough, but the sea looked calm. * * * I’m back, refreshed and recharged, slightly changed and hugely inspired, and mostly, oh mostly, incredibly moved — whether to tears […]