Dishin' Out Some Gratitude

23 Nov 2009

No immunity from community..

I grew up in one of those towns where everyone sorta knew each other and news traveled fast. I had always thought community was synonymous for town. I didn’t think of work or school or concerts as types of communities. And I never imagined being a part of a community largely made up of people that I’d talked to but hadn’t met, IE the interwebs.

And it may be the holidays.. or it may be because we’re huddled for warmth that we, or rather, some of us feel the need to give back to our communities. There are some critics that say volunteering once a year is silly and it isn’t enough. It’s true, it’s not enough.

But it’s a start.

It’s not about cleaning up parks or working in soup kitchens because you feel forced to. I think the longevity in volunteerism and civic engagement is finding something you’re passionate about and applying your skills to help out the community in a sincere way. And realizing the world doesn’t revolve around you. ;) Like cooking? Help prepare meals for those who are ill and homebound. Like throwing parties? Have people bring canned goods as “cover charge” to donate to a food bank. Good at the financial side of things? Help low income families with their taxes.

Personally, I’m slightly spread out. But that’s okay too. ;) I started heavily volunteering at a time when I thought I was “searching for myself”. That always sounded kind of wonky because, why would I be searching for myself? I’m right here. hah I think as human beings we yearn to be a part of something. We’re all just puzzle pieces that interlock to make the big picture.

And that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. ;)

For some ideas on places to help/donate to this holiday season, think about what gets you most excited, what you’re good at, what you want to try doing.

Here are some of the non-profits I’ve worked with in the past (I’ll probably be adding to this for the rest of the year..). I’ve detailed ways you can volunteer, but donating (money/goods) is always helpful too. ;) Let me know if you have any questions or want to figure out how you can give back to your community. :)

Boston Cares is my all time favorite organization in Boston. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have gotten connected to the different organizations I’m now involved in. They help set up groups to go to different non-profits in the city almost every day of the year. After you’ve attend their orientation, you can volunteer as much or as little as you’d like..once a week, once a month, once a year. If you don’t have time for the orientation, the easiest way to help right away is to help out other orgs! There are wish lists on their site for pretty much all the organizations that they work with. (Their main offices are close to South Station and Downtown Crossing.) There’s really something for everyone at Boston Cares. 

The American Red Cross Food Pantry (Boston Chapter) is located on Mass Ave past the Boston Medical Center. While volunteer commitments at the food pantry are usually over 3+ hours, it moves rather quickly. You’ll spend time putting together bags of food (the pantry makes sure to cover the food groups!) or passing out food directly to the clients. Volunteers are needed Wednesdays and Saturdays during the day.

The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer’s Boston office is a minute away from the Central Square T stop. At the office, they need everything done from administrative tasks to organizing and even crafty stuff. Last time I was in, I had to design different pink ribbons on patches of fabric. If you’re feeling more ambitious, you can volunteer to be a crew member on one of their nine 40 mile walks nationwide (Boston’s is May 15-16). Or of course, walk one. :)

On the Rise is a day shelter in Inman Square for homeless women and women in crisis. Volunteering is usually on Saturdays (limited) while the shelter is closed. You might do flyering around the neighborhood, cleaning/tidying up around the house, sorting through donations, or even decorating for the holidays throughout the year. There are more opportunities for those with special skills. They offer law advice, creative activities (painting/writing/etc), and massage when they have volunteers who specialize in those areas.

Community Servings is located very close to the Stony Brook T stop in Jamaica Plain. Volunteers work in the kitchen preparing some 750 meals a day for over 20 different diet plans. CS serves clients that are homebound due to illness (everything from AIDs/HIV to cancer to severe diabetes) and their families. I’ve definitely become a master cutter of turkey, sweet potatoes, and yams because of CS. Volunteers are also needed for administrative tasks and for delivery to clients. Their big fundraiser Pie in the Sky, needs your help this week. If you’ve got a car, they need help delivering pies from 8-6PM on Tuesday. Call Ana at 617-522-7777X234 And of course, you can buy pies (one pie feeds a client for a week) from one of the designated locations (check out this list of bakers).

The Puddingstone Urban Wild is in Roxbury, but there are many urban wilds throughout the city. I was here for a corporate volunteer day through Boston Cares. In some areas, these urban wilds are the only greenery in the neighborhood and it’s important to preserve them. Tending to an urban wild can range from landscaping to picking up broken pieces of glass to planting.

Although Dash for a Difference is in April, you can start training now. ;) Dash is like the Amazing Race for non-profits. Teams start in a central location and then must make their way through Boston by sorting through clues and doing various different service activities. I volunteered and was stationed at Arlington Street Church where Dashers had to help clean tables and chairs used for Friday Night Supper and also make sandwiches for the Women’s Lunch Place, a daytime shelter for homeless women and their children.

Friday Night Supper Club is held in the basement of the Arlington Street Church right outside the Arlington T stop. Volunteers serve meals to the homeless of Boston. FNSC also has a clothing closet. Guests write down what they need, toiletries/clean shirts for interviews/etc, and volunteers sort through donations to put together things off the lists.

Reach Out and Read is a program that promotes early literacy. I’ve linked the map of places you can volunteer all over the state of MA, but I’ve gone to read at a pediatric clinic in the Mattapan Community Health Center. ROR provides amazing and incredibly diverse books..ones that I wish I had when I was a kid. They even had a sign language book when I was there! I think one of the best parts of volunteering is seeing a really shy child come out of their shell and hearing them ask if THEY could read to ME. :) Fair warning.. some children LOVE to hear the same book over and over again.

Recording for the Blind and Dyselxic is located in North Cambridge, just a few minutes walk from the Porter Square T stop. As a volunteer, you get to read from an assortment of books and record yourself. There is some training, as you’re put into a recording booth and handle the controls yourself, but it is fairly easy once you get the hang of it. AND once you’re done with your sessions, you get to pick from an assortment of free books that they’ve finished recording!

Boston Living Center is close to Copley and the Back Bay T stop. BLC is a community center for those living with HIV/AIDs. Volunteers are needed to help serve lunch, dinner, work on administrative duties, and help with the many different programs that they offer to their clients. Their big Thanksgiving dinner is at Hynes Convention Center this Tuesday. Plan for it next year (especially if you’re a server that is TIPS certified)!

Harvest Food Pantry is in the basement of the Cambridgeport Baptist Church and located between Central Square and Cambridgeport. One of the more relaxed food pantries, the regular volunteers encourage people to drop in when they can. Help is needed setting up seats for clients and the different tables of food. Clients are led around the tables so that they can sort of shop for which items they’d like (although there is a limit as to what they can take). When they have enough items/time/volunteers they also have a clothing closet.

Room to Grow is close to the Back Bay T stop. RTG provides support for low income families from before their child is born until they are 3 years old. They give families everything from parenting advice to clothing to toys and books. Volunteers are needed to help organize as well as sort through donations. Clothes must be new or in very good condition. Stay strong though.. don’t get totally lost staring at the incredibly cute baby outfits.

American Cancer Society and I go way back. I’ve done their Relay for Life (a 18-24 hour walkathon), Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, sold flowers for Daffodil Days, and donated to my friend’s fundraiser for Spin for Hope. ACS serves as a resource for all those affected by cancer including patients as well as their families and caregivers.

Pine Street Inn is closest to the East Berkeley silver line stop. While Pine Street has a variety of programs you can look at on their website, my only experience is volunteering during lunch. The shelter serves a number of the homeless men and women in downtown Boston.

Greater Boston Food Bank is now located by the airport. I haven’t been to their new building nor have I volunteered directly with them, but I have worked in places that receive their food from GBFB. You’ll see right on the front page of their website, they distribute more than 30 million pounds of food each year. Check their website for volunteer opportunities or run a food drive at work/school/etc.

In the past, I’ve helped AIDs Action with fundraisers and volunteered in their offices in Downtown Crossing, but for the past couple years I’ve been helping with their AIDS Walk (which starts off over by the Esplanade/Hatch Shell). You can be a walk marshal (helping walkers cross safely), help with registration (if you’re the early rising type), or even distribute water. This is always fun during the Larry Kessler 5K Run they have before the walk. Not my strongest moment as a volunteer..there’s most certainly a right and wrong way to hand off water.

Susan G. Komen For the Cure is a foundation committed to finding a cure for breast cancer. They have a 60 mile walk in the summer, a 5K in late summer, and other Komen sponsored events. The 5K was actually the first event I volunteered for when I first moved to Boston (I was part of the crew that helped set up) and as most of you know I did their 60 mile walk but in DC.

I’ve linked to Tweetsgiving Boston, but Tweetsgiving happens all over the the WORLD. Funds raised from these events go to the Shepherd Junior School in Tanzania. This is also this Tuesday (11/24) at the new Microsoft New England Research and Development Center in Cambridge.

Project Bread funds food banks, food pantries, soup kitchens, and other programs all over MA. You’re probably familiar with their Walk for Hunger, a 20 mile walk through the greater Boston area. I’ve never done the Walk for Hunger, but I have been a walk marshal (I’m the one that usually does the hip hop stretches on the walk.. heh) and handed out water (pumping water is probably the best ab exercise you’ll ever get). Volunteers are also needed to help mark the route and to cheer on the walkers amongst other things. 

The Light the Night Walk for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society was one of the first walks I ever participated in back when I lived in New Jersey. Participants walk along a route with red and white (for survivors) balloons. While it is a short walk, it’s incredibly moving both because of the beautiful light and meeting the younger survivors/hearing their stories. The Boston walk usually takes place around the Boston Common. Check in with your local chapter see how you can help. 

Mustaches + November = Movember. Movember happens all over the world but I linked to the US - if you’re looking to donate, search Team Boston. Men grow mustaches to raise awareness for men’s cancers. Proceeds go to the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the Livestrong Foundation.

Oh, and I’ve gotta give a shout out to Joyce, who has a blog of places (Future Chefs, Future of Music Coalition, Hawthorne Youth and Community Center, Underdorg ResQ) she’d prefer people donate to instead of buying her Christmas presents this year. Doesn’t that make you just want to buy her presents AND donate to her favorite charities?

Happy volunteering/giving! Make sure to let me know what projects you’re working on. :)

(Photo taken by me, Sept 2009.. I figure it’s somewhat appropriate. heh)

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3 Nov 2009

Part 2: I would walk 500 miles.. well, not consecutively..

(Part 1: Cancel my subscription, cancer.. I’m done with your issues.. Can be found here.)

This blog contains a little bit of advice for long distance walkers, primarily those doing the 3 Day for Komen, although most holds true for the Avon walk as well. Feel free to message me with any questions! 

(Just as a side note: Stop listening to The Proclaimers 1-2 months before your walk. You’ll hear this song sung/played/tapped to A LOT on these types of walks. It was in my head during the whole walk and I even started signing it in ASL when no one was singing/playing it. haha)

***

Just some background on me. I’ve been doing charity walks for more than a decade (10 miles or less) but my first big walk was the 2007 Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in Long Beach, CA. 40 miles over 2 days.. along beaches, highways, side streets, and up hills. And I trained a LOT. 

This year, I walked the Susan G. Komen for the Cure 3 Day in Washington, DC (60 miles). I’m going to be honest and say that I didn’t train a lot this year. I never went on any training walks and I never walked more than 12-15 miles at any given time. In my defense, I’m from Boston and walk at least 5-10 miles every day so I have dynamite calves. And I’m sort of a freak of nature and don’t mind walking in rain, wind, snow, etc. AND I’ve never gotten a blister on either walk because I know how to take care of my feet (except when I make them wear heels for 10 hours or more). So don’t go telling people I told you to wing it. 

BUT..

Here’s my biggest slice of advice. Go in with a positive mindset. Forget about the mileage. Forget about the donations. Forget about GETTING injured/getting blisters (but definitely pay attention to injuries). Forget about the e-mails that are piling up at the office. This year I thought about a lot. Mostly because I did a lot of the walk on my own (note: I did walk some with my tent buddy who I know from Boston). What I thought about most and what kept me going was.. my friends and family and all of their support. And just taking time to smile about it. Watch your mood lift with a little smiling and laughing here and there. In between each pit stop, my goal was just to get to the next and smile/chat with my fellow walkers. I didn’t think about finishing at a certain time (except near the end), I tried to just live in the moment. One step at a time. It sounds like something small but it can feel harder during the walk. Especially up some of the hills when you tend to forget what you’re doing and where you are. 

All this other advice is just extra.. ;) 

Things to Have

Komen has a general list.. but my lifesavers were..

-I’m gonna do a big up to all my ladies in Atlantic City (Jersey represent!) and fully endorse the fanny/hip sack. I totally heart the one that I bought from the 3 Day Gear store (on site). It’s just big enough to contain everything I wanted to bring and it made the weight evenly distributed on my back. Also, I had one of those cinched light athletic bags the first day and it totally burned my shoulders. Y’ouch!

-Sunscreen. Apply liberally a few times during the day. You’ll be sweating and will most likely wipe most of it off with your bandana.

-.. and speaking of bandanas.. they’re good for patting off sweat.. dunking in water for some temporary heat relief.. and for waving around like you’re royalty. ;P Bring at least 1 per walking day. 

-They had moist toilettes at each of the bathroom stops (and anti-bacterial on the Avon walk), but I brought a little thing of wipes and hand sanitizer with me to use during the walk and before/after lunch when I was too lazy to walk towards the bathroom area. 

-Blister kits. The medic tents will have tons of this stuff, but it’s good to have with you on the walk and to avoid large lines at big pit stops. 

-Your camera! If you’re accident prone, bring disposables.. but I liked my digital camera. :) And there’s no cell phone use on the route, but I brought mine so that I could take pix and tweet (w/Twitpic.com). I, of course, stepped aside while taking pictures so that I wouldn’t clog up the route. (You’ll know about bottle-necking within the first couple miles of the walk.)

-On the last day, my great tentmate reminded me to bring my flip flops.. thanks again to the 3Day hipsack, I was able to tie them on with the bungee cords attached without having to hand carry them.. and boy.. were my feet ecstatic at the end of the walk! 

-Okay, so people go all out with buying walking clothes.. but I definitely did not. My clothing consisted of items from H&M, Old Navy, Urban Outfitters, etc with some City Sports/EMS wicking material gear (mostly because of the Komen discount). I also used the same shoes for all three days (although I did bring a spare because I heard it was going to rain). Translation: You don’t need to go out and buy fancy athletic gear.. wear what’s comfortable (and preferably things that you’ve trained with). The one thing I’ve gone fancy for in the past is socks. I love me some aloe socks. I most definitely think they’ve contributed to my blisterless existence. :) I bring 2 pairs for each walking day, but I generally don’t change them. 

-Speaking of being blister-less.. I swear by Avon’s blister cream. Not sure they sell it anymore, so I had to buy it off EBay.. but so far I’ve done the Avon and the Komen.. fully finishing both (without ever being swept).. and I’ve never gotten any blisters. I’m sure Body Glide (or something like it) is good for feet as well.. definitely get it to put on/around any place where your clothing hits your body.. around your sleeves, your bra/pant/short/shirt lines.. some people even do it on their sock line. I applied the blister cream at every other stop, also giving my foot a quick massage. I applied Body Glide at least twice a day. 

-Money..definitely not gobs, but on the Komen walk, shuttles to hotels after the walk are cash only. And if you’re a coffee fiend, you might want to have some moola for the buzz along the route.  

-Towel Service. This is mostly for those doing the 3 day since Avon doesn’t have it. Not having to deal with wet towels in your tent is a LOAD off your back. 

-Remember that if you put it in your bag.. you’ll be carrying it for awhilleeeeeeee.

Things to Do - Seriously.. DO IT.. 

-Stretch. Stretch. Stretch. You’re supposed to stretch for 5 minutes every hour, but I did a little stretching at every stop light. This is handy.. except for when you go through long stretches with no stop lights. Remember, this isn’t a race.. so it’s okay to step to the side and stretch.

-And don’t forget to hydrate too. I also did this whenever I took a moment to stretch. And while it’s good to fill up at every rest stop to save time.. again it’s not a race. The less you carry, the more comfortable you’ll be. I had a wide mouth Nalgene bottle and I was definitely more comfortable when there was enough water to get me from stop to stop, but it wasn’t overflowing. And there was less of a chance of me spilling water/Gatorade all over myself. 

-Feel free to bring your own snacks.. especially if you have any allergies of any types.. but there will be tons on the way. Granola bars, PB&Js, carrots, candycandycandy, cheese, pretzels, etc (may vary from place to place, but you get the gist). There’s also some cookies and/or chips that come with lunch. Don’t take a lot of snacks with you on the walk. 1) It’s greedy. 2) It’ll weigh you down.

-When you’re passing someone, don’t say “Excuse me”, say “Hello, how are you”. I’m not saying you need to be BFF with everyone you pass on the walk or engage in a long conversation (especially up steep hills), but instead of tailgating someone, throw them a smile.. say Good Morning or Good Afternoon. We’re all in this together, baby. Let’s make sure no one feels invisible or like road kill. :) 

-Go to the bathroom at every stop. Yeah I said it. It’s Murphy’s Law of Pee, you don’t think you need to go.. but you will the moment you’re far enough from the rest stop that you won’t want to turn back.

-Don’t be afraid to keep your own pace. I found myself walking slower than my usual pace at times and it made me more tired. Feel free to walk a little faster even if it’s not with your group. There are tons of people to chat with on the way. But again.. it’s not a race. ;) 

-Put something distinguishing on your tent, or memorize the distinguishing tent next to you. I most definitely walked up to the wrong tent once or twice. They’re all pink! Thankfully I found the right row at night because one of the front tents had big ladybug decorations. 

-Flashlight. There are some big floodlights over the camp, but you can’t see everything. And obviously, there are no lights in the port-o-potty. You don’t want to be put out of commission because you tripped on the way to the bathroom one night. 

-Did I mention smiling? I firmly believe that smiling/frowning can change the way you feel. Whenever I think about the best parts of the walk, they were all either at the cheering stations or slightly after. Smile.. laugh.. have a good time. It’s hard work, but no one ever said that you couldn’t smile your way through.

-Take the sweep van if you need it. No one’s going to judge you and it’s not cheating. It’s taking care of yourself. And who’s going to blame you for doing that? (Seriously, lemme know and I’ll take care of it.) 

-THANK THE CREW! Like they say.. they are waking up before you.. and going to sleep after you. They’re working hard to make your experience awesome.

-AND give your honest feedback after the walk. Don’t hold back. They can’t make the walk better, if they don’t have your honest feedback. But don’t forget to tell them what awesome things they’re doing too! :) 

(All the photos were taken by me. 1) At the end of the walk, my “victory” shirt and a pink rose. 2) A walker’s backpack.. “I Walk for my friend”, “Save the ta tas”, “F&ck Cancer”. 3) A team of ladies that made up songs about breast cancer.. heard them singing I Will Survive, but they had made up lyrics to go with the breast cancer walk! 4) A sweep van. For more pictures, see my Flickr.)

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3 Nov 2009

Part 1: Cancel my subscription, cancer.. I'm done with your issues..

Okay. That header is a lie. I know I speak for the 2,300 men and women that walked Columbus Day weekend when I say: Cancer, we’re not going anywhere. We’re here to kick your ass and walk all over you.

Just saying.

On the third day of the Komen walk in Washington DC, with over 50 miles logged, we made our way past the hotel I was staying in the night before the walk began. It was in Dupont Circle. Everyone was cheering and giving us candy and high fives. It was a good time. Several hours later, sweaty and lugging a duffle bag back to my hotel to pick up my other things, no one seemed to notice me. No longer a mighty walker, I went back to being just a pedestrian. Some of the faces looked familiar as I limped by. I wanted to ask, don’t you recognize me? You were cheering just a couple hours ago.

So now what? What happens when the excitement dies down.. the pink ribbon products get taken off the shelves.. when I put away the blister cream.. and my pesky countdown/fundraising e-mails/tweets/statuses disappear?

Now is the time I thank you for supporting me, because well, I don’t know where I’d be. As human beings we need each other to survive. To smile.. to hold hands.. to feed.. to dance.. to work.. to play.. and to take care of each other. The walk reminded me that there are miles that are longer than others (literally and figuratively) and without the support of friends and family, it’s just a helluva longer walk. In the burbs. Uphill. Both ways. So thank you a million times infinity for donating, for the smiley faces, for passing along my link. You all came along on the walk with me.. I just did all the heavy lifting.. ;)

Now is the time that I remind you that breast cancer doesn’t sleep. We’ve all taken a step in the right direction, but we still need to fight. Now is the time I remind you to do self checks and to get mammograms. And to tell the women in your life that they should too. I’ve even hyperlinked all this info and made them open in separate windows so you don’t get distracted.. Do I love you or what? ;P

Info about:

Susan G. Komen For the Cure

The 3 Day

How to perform a self exam: American Cancer Society website

Where to get a mammogram: BreastCancer.org

Oh.. and you probably wanna hear a little about the walk, right? ;) Here’s what I remember..

-Opening ceremonies outside the Washington Nationals Stadium.. seeing survivors stand on a podium.. hearing about the woman who was supposed to be walking with her mother and was now walking for her..

-The kids cheering and waving.. their innocence and enthusiasm.. their kazoos (yes, kazoos)..

-Flowers from a local flower shop.. restaurants with signs saying we could use bathrooms not normally open to the public..

-A moment on the bus on the first day.. so exhausted from 5 hours of sleep.. thinking.. “WHY DIDN’T ANYONE STOP ME FROM DOING THIS!”

-Risking my camera and phone for a quick run through a fountain during our 85 degree day..

-Trying to walk through the DC Equality March.. hearing them scream for us.. us screaming for them.. a general celebration of pink boas..

-Men in kilts and tutus..

-Hearing about a woman who had a double mastectomy and a hysterectomy in the same year saying.. “Well, I sure feel like a girl now..”

-A woman that hugged all of us before we got onto the bus on the last day..

-Meeting fighters, winners, men, women, people whose entire family had some sort of cancer and people whose family have never been sick.. pregnant women, women in braces and casts, walkers who had double digit teams and walks who were there by themselves.. meeting the two guys who will be walking (or be somehow involved) with all fifteen 3 Day walks..

-Seeing Santa walk by.. (he totes lost weight)

-My old lady shuffle at the end of each day..

-Realizing for the first time, that not only was I walking for my friends and family and all the people we’ve lost.. but I was walking for myself too..

-Falling asleep for a minute while standing up and opening my eyes to see a woman totally concerned that I’d pass out..

-My desensitization to port-o-potties thanks to Bonnaroo..

-Fearing that I’d fall asleep in the shower and that someone would have to get me (I’m told it happens every year.. and a dude is always the first person that comes in to save the day)..

-Saying f*ck calories and totally noshing on multiple Crustables (those peanut butter and jelly empanada-like things)..

-Seeing the woman who had a “I survived at 25” tag on her shirt and feeling a chill go down my spine..

-The men walking with her that had shirts with “If you don’t check yourself, I will”..

-Feeling for a moment that my grandmother was with me..

-Smiling, laughing, sometimes cursing in Tagalog during the big hills, breathing in..

-Hearing that there were about 190 men at the walk.. and wondering how many of them were single (what? guys that volunteer are hot!)..

-Being incredibly impressed by the crew’s enthusiasm, sense of humor, stability, strength, sense of style, and really nice stems (especially the dudes with the kilts/tutus.. heh)..

-Wishing there were more people cheering us on.. and more music being played..

-Being totally elevated to another level of being when exposed to both..

-Save the ta tas.. save a life, grope your wife.. fight like a girl.. I’m a breast man.. f*ck cancer.. if you’re going to stare at ‘em you might as well support them..dudes for boobs..

Oh.. and..

-The chicken at the finishing line..

-And this.. very pink.. sunset. :)

(All photos were taken by me.. 1) Opening ceremonies 2) One of the crew crossing guards who was ridiculously awesome 3) A poster made by one of our cheerleaders.. slightly drippy from our rainy day 4) Boo Bees.. get it? 5) The Komen walk and the DC Equality March intersect 6) Santa 7) The chicken at the finishing line.. proof I didn’t imagine it 8) Sunset over the main campus tents after the 2nd day. For more photos, check out my Flickr.)

Part 2: Tips for walkers.. coming very very soon (like after lunch.. hehe)..

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15 Aug 2009

I am my father's daughter


For my first post, I thought I’d give you a little insight into who I am coupled with someone I am eternally grateful for. The idea stemmed from a fundraising e-mail I recently sent out. My cousin Melissa wrote back, “Your dad would be so proud of you.” I hope so.


People have always said I was “my father’s daughter”.. especially my mother. For the longest time, I couldn’t see it. He was a type A, old fashioned, Republican immigrant who sometimes sounded like he was yelling when he spoke. I don’t know about other first generation kids, but I felt like I was teaching HIM a lot of the time. Looking back on it now.. pretty much everything I said and thought was novel.. was actually all his influence.


As the youngest and only girl of 4, I was definitely a daddy’s girl for awhile. Since my mother worked long hours as a nurse, he would take me out on weekends. After his parents passed away, he would go to church each Saturday and pray for them.. then it was onto bargain/window shopping. Bradlee’s, The Dollar Store, Crazy Eddie’s, Rag Shop, Channel.. you get the picture. He had grown up poor on a farm in the Philippines during WWII, so he knew a thing or two about being frugal. I heard a couple of those “had to walk uphill both ways to get ketchup once a year” stories growing up, so I never thought to cry and scream in front of him to get things.. nor did he ever buy me toys, junk food, etc. Mom was who you could go to for that stuff.


He worked as a chemical engineer and an inventor. At home, he was always finding practical ways to solve problems without buying new things. That’s probably why when I saw Doc Brown in Back to the Future, I wasn’t too impressed. Minus the whole.. future time travel thing. I followed in my father’s footsteps, making up things as I went along. Building “cars” for my dolls out of old shoeboxes with cardboard wheels held together with BBQ sticks, fixing my glasses with pipecleaners when I broke the arms, and even holding up my box spring with a complicated grid of jars after a not so successful reenactment of monkeys jumping on the bed (yeah, that was never a good idea).


I never considered him a writer, although when something embarrassing happened, he would say, “This is for you. This is for your writing..” in order to make me feel better.


He handwrote the following piece and asked me to type it up for him on the computer in August of 2005 (and as you will see, dated exactly 4 years ago). Yes, even in 2005 my father handwrote or typed his letters on a typewriter. He was that classy. :) He said that if anyone wanted to know about him, he wanted to be able to give them a one page bio of who he was.. period. At the age of 68 and incredibly accomplished, he was able to succinctly sum up his life. Here I am writing a 2 page intro for the piece. ;)

==========

Life and Oatmeal Cookies


August 15, 2005

So I am crazy. 

It is now 8 o’clock and time will just keep going, not minding the world or me. 

So I thought to write my story to sort it all out whether I am crazy or not, although it really does not matter. 

I was born in 1937. I was a farm boy with a slingshot to scare or kill birds, or hit anything I could. I was not too smart in grade school - I thought “bow” was just a word, not an action. I even told my teacher that someday I would put “love” in my pocket and not in my heart. 

I tested three different high schools - public, private, non-sectarian. No preference - I thought I was good in all of them. Maybe it was my attending 5 AM mass every morning before going to school. I was a school-hopper non-resident, so I couldn’t be given an honor label at graduation. Although I was really very good in high school - senior class president, chief justice of the student supreme court, and president of the 1955 class alumni association. 

Then, I guess, I started being crazy. I wanted to be a missionary priest. My parents thought that was crazy. My brothers thought that was weird. I don’t know my sister’s opinion at the time. 

So, I wanted to be a missionary doctor. My parents thought I would get married and never finish, so why start. I wanted to be a politician and help people. And I wanted to go to a public university to start. Not to be. I had to do what my great and learned family desired of me. There is a good reason for all things and all events. I do believe. 

So I went to (the Catholic) Christian Brothers College - De La Salle College - Manila. 

And as my family wanted me to be, I become a chemical engineer. 

Now I am my own man, so I thought. I could do anything I want, so I thought. Yes or no, I could choose. Forty years of doing to serve humanity. I did that. Weird maybe, but I loved the life I have lived. 

I wanted to live in as many countries as I could, and return home to teach or be in some public service or something. That didn’t happen. There’s a reason for everything. 

Needless to say, among other things, I accumulated 1 Canadian and 5 American patents for new, original, and useful inventions or product creations. 

The best looking and talented wife, three great sons, and one charming and gifted daughter, are the best gifts I could ever ask my creator, my God. Thank you. 

Does a computer have an “on” button? What’s a cell phone? I gave away my car a few years back. I have a 99 dollar - 3 speed bike with a senior citizen’s basket and a newspaper rack. I deliver meals on my daughter’s wheels to homebound seniors. I touch some people’s hearts and enlighten their minds by proclaiming the message of God on Sunday mass readings. I think I do very well as a handyman. I have created a paradise of awesome greens and rainbow colored flowers in over three thousand square feet of planet earth. I have had a tiny taste of heaven too. I see beauty everywhere I look. Love, sunrise, sunset, the world, fulfillment, contentment, silence, solitude , simplicity - I have it all. 

And some - not all - say I’m crazy. Thank you. Share my crazy world and tell others what paradise or even heaven could be like. 

Time is still going. At 9 o’clock I’ll still settle for a warm cup of skim milk and oatmeal cookies.

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While my father is no longer around, I’m pretty sure it’s still fine to say that I’m forever in his debt. Thank you for making me an awesome bargain Betty.. for teaching me to be resourceful.. for giving me the tools to be an incredible writer.. and for everything that makes me so much like you yet so different. Let’s hope my writing lives up to everything you’ve always wanted for me and more.

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