Memories

Here I am as a newlywed in the summer of 1965 at a dinner with my new husband's family in Manila. (I can't believe I wore that short skirt!) Having never been on a plane before, I traveled with Tony to meet his family on the other side of the world in the Philippines. How risky to marry someone whose family you hadn't yet met, who was a different race, religion, nationality, and with 12 years difference in age. As I look back, I'm surprised that I was able to do this; and yet here we are, almost 43 years later, still doing well after all these years!

This week I've been thinking of those early days, meeting Tony's family, experiencing a new culture, figuring things out. Tony's parents are the older couple in the picture; and now we are the older couple! The others are Tony's brothers and their wives.

How quickly the years have passed! Tony's parents and his brother Mars have been gone for several years. Last week we learned that our sister-in-law Angeline fourth from the left in the above picture passed away in Los Angeles after many years of illness. She was a kind and gentle lady who will be missed. We're also very concerned about Tony's older brother Mont, near San Francisco who is dealing with a very critical health situation. We wish the best for him. And lastly, Tony himself was in the hospital two weeks ago with stomach issues, but thankfully is now fine again. In fact he is very fine, eating well, talking about the garden if spring ever comes, working on a lot of stuff around the house!

So we keep our memories of days gone by and look ahead to the wonderful futures of our children and grandchildren whom we love so much.