A year ago today, JVA checked out of 'this giant, raucous hotel'

"…[O]ne hits at some point in middle age the Great Reversal, where we see clearly that the way ahead is shorter than the way behind, and that it is only luck or chance that we are still eating, talking, taking out the trash and doing the laundry as if nothing particular were happening. This realization creates a revolution in the brain. One sees that life really is an incessant conversation between the living and the dead – and what one writer called 'the tyranny of the living,' 'the small, arrogant oligarchy of those who happen to be walking around' is a shortsighted view. Nothing we touch, think, feel, or love is other than a gift from those who came before us, passing on literature, painting, domesticated cats, architecture, silver spoons, flush toilets, witty sayings, lullabies, chocolate éclairs, systems of government, habits of kindness before they, too, close the door of their room and, one by one, check out of this giant, raucous hotel." -Cynthia Haven

When the garden was young: Jerry Araos, wife Melen and their youngest children Mira and Julian. They are flanked by SV and Nieves Epistola, their backs turned and looking like angelic sentinels.

We'll be looking at the moon, and we'll be seeing you. Thank you for the gift of your life that remains evergreen in our hearts and minds. Till we meet again, oh, Little Prince! Labyu!

A toast to the memory of departed beloveds

Do not stand at my grave and weep

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.

-Mary Elizabeth Frye

Urn of sculptor Jerry Araos(+)

Nieves and SV Epistola (+) flank National Artist Jose Maceda(+)

Lola Purang(+) at her Brookside home, Baguio City

Daddy(+), Christmas of 1965, with his family

Jane Server Banzhaf(+)

Auntie Pacing(+), Lolo Lucky(+)and Lola(+), seated. Except for Auntie Fe, all the persons in the back row are gone (Uncle Ramon, Dad, Uncles Esting and Celso)


Rico Manlapaz(+) at his Antipolo home


Gigi Custodio(+) one lunchtime at the Glorietta

Lucrecia "King" Kasilag(+), fourth from left, and Odette Alcantara(+), second from right