DOCUMENTING ANA, GRANDSON JACK AND THE PODCAST

Ana Adiong, 7/13/19

It was just two hundred thirty nine days ago, on a rainy evening last November, when I took that fateful cab ride outside Cagayan de Oro to the bedroom and port community of Bugo, the barangay as filipinos refer to it.

While Ana had told me her home was "not far," the older, gruff driver said the opposite, "very far," but, it was really an accident on the Batuan-Cagayan de Oro-Iligan Highway that made the trip through the pineapple and papaya fields of the Del Monte Corporation take 45 minutes, not 15.

Del Monte Plant at Bugo, CDO

My driver stopped twice on that dark, damp night to ask tricycle drivers for directions, the last one giving us a free escort right to Ana's house.

Ana ran outside, wearing a dark navy house dress, picking one of my two bags out of the trunk.(Lugging two heavy bags around the Philippines was one of my dumber ideas.)  When I've tried to confess to Ana my recollection of noticing first thing a shapely silhouette in that moonlit night, my fiancée simply says "Stop that!"

Ana has her documents neatly organized; videocall logs showing conversations daily, some lasting four hours or more, boarding passes, itineraries, terminal fees, hotel receipts and pictures, all providing "Proof of Relationship."

Next on her agenda is a medical checkup at Saint Luke's Hospital Medical Extension in Manila, the same hospital where Ana did her nurse's training a decade ago.  While in the city, Ana will also attend a five hour seminar mandated by the Philippine government detailing the rights of filipino citizens who venture abroad to meet future spouses or employers.  

Grandson Jack with Friend

I may pick up Grandson Jack today so he can do some swimming, then, if he spends the night, he can watch the Whine with Cheez podcast featuring Commissioners Tetreau and Galonsky.  

I'm having some difficulty concentrating on podcasts, blogging and local politics right now.