my siblings

i have a half brother and a half sister in california. in 2008, i met my half-brother for the first time. he traveled at least 10 hours from LA to meet us at San Francisco. He looks a lot like my father :) Even though it was our first time to be in SanFo, I did not go around that much as my father wanted to spend more time with his son (thank you my dear husband and darling daughter for understanding)

when it was time to leave, my brother walked away from us at the airport without hugging us :( he just turned around abruptly but i saw him crying as he left. my heart was crushed.

my father left his homeland for the 1st time when he was 13 years old. he went back when he was 16, got married and had two children. he never got to see his two children grow up as he returned to the Philippines, made a new life for himself and had a family. the plan at first was to follow his father in San Francisco but papa did not make it to the US until 1970 when he was petitioned by his daughter who had already migrated there. he visited them but declined the petition and return to us in the philippines.

fast forward 40 years later, my mom, sister, and two brothers have migrated to the US although mama is coming home for good this year. papa, doc (my brother the confirmed bachelor) and I are the only ones left here (of course my husband and my daughter are here with us). last week, doc's immigrant visa arrived. he is going at the end of june. he has a very successful medical practice here and i asked him why is he leaving that for the uncertainty there - he said that he does not want to look back later and ask why he didn't even try when there was an opportunity.

i am sooooooo sad