Alaska

I was talking with me pops over brunch this morning. We were talking about the disasters in Myanmar and China and how the respective governments dealt with recovery and with the media. This naturally led to a discussion of life under the Marcos regime back in the PI.

He was talking about how a combination of factors lead to him leaving home. The obvious factors aside (corruption etc.), he said his boss provided a large bit of the motivation. After returning from a three week engineering seminar in California his boss, knowing full well my father's connections to the New Peoples Army and various other activist groups, told him, "Hoy, Rudy. I'm telling you right now, you have to go to America. It's amazing, you can wash dishes there and still have a better, safer life."

"What about my resignation?"

"Hell, don't worry about it. You can send it to me when you're rich in Alaska. Go!"

Shortly thereafter his brother (my uncle) a navy serviceman was able to petition his mother (my grandma) to the US. He figured he should go accompany his mother to the US because my uncle was active duty on a carrier and wouldn't be able to take care of her. This would also be a great chance to check up on all the stories he'd heard. My father, a prominent figure in the Manila scene already had a US Visa, had had one for two years, and there were three days left on it. Right then, he decided to go. He went to visit my mom at work, whom he was only dating at the time,"Hey, do you want to go to America?"

"What? I guess, sure. Why?"

"I'm leaving tomorrow."

The rest, as one might say, is history. I, on the other hand, would call it my dad's super spontaneous, ballin-ass history.

I LOL'D!