36 Weeks, 3 Days: Dad's Visit

This past weekend my dad came up to Boston for a quick weekend visit. Since he'd been to Boston a few times already, I was wondering what we could do (other than eat all kinds of seafood). The answer came in the form of an email from the head of our Boston Fil-Am Book Club (BFAB for short, fabulous acronym, isn't it?), Bren Bataclan. Bren's email invited us to an Artist Talk given by Rick Rocamora. Here's a blurb about the talk and Rick:

Award-winning documentary photographer Rick Rocamora, who took pictures of

Filipino WWII veterans for 18 years as they wait to be recognized as equal

to US veterans, will sign books and show a slide show about his work.

Rocamora has documented the lives of the Filipino veterans, still clinging

to hard-won medals, military commendations and scraps of uniforms as they

make their way in San Francisco's toughest neighborhoods. Rocamora's deep

connection to the veterans allows a rare view into their difficult but

always dignified lives, and creates a poignant story of pain, persistence

and hope.

Rocamora's images have been part of investigative stories on the abuse of

veterans in North Richmond, California, Medicare scam in San Francisco that

used them, exhibitions in the US Congress and other venues and countless

presentations and photo essays about their plight. His images have been part

of their struggle and have been credited in inspiring others to advocate for

equity for the veterans.

His photo-documentary work, including words of supporters, historical

anecdotes and chronology is now part of the book "AMERICA'S SECOND-CLASS

VETERANS".

Thinking this would be a perfect thing to do with my dad, I showed my dad the email and asked him if he was interested. To my surprise, he said, "I know that guy, he's your Tito Totoy." (To the non-Tagalog speakers, Tito=Uncle.) Apparently, my father knows Rick! They used to work together in Manila. Small world, isn't it? Also, my mom and Rick's ex-wife were sorority sisters together in college in Manila and are still very good friends.

Needless to say, we checked out Rick's talk and loved it. If you'd like to know more about him and his work, click here. His photos are very powerful. We enjoyed his talk and photos very much. My dad and Tito Totoy did a bit of catching up. I even got a photo of the two of them:

Other than seeing Tito Totoy, we did a lot of walking around Boston. Here's a photo of my dad checking out the Holocaust Memorial in Boston:

We also did a lot of seafood eating, including oysters (raw and fried) and lobster rolls. Delicious.

As for pregnancy/baby news, everything is going well. In my 36th week, I'm finally starting to really feel heavy. The baby has started to "drop" and I'm really feeling that. It seems like I visit the ladies room pretty much every hour. Here's a profile photo I just took (a bit blurry because I used my phone camera):

Summer has finally decided to come to Boston and we've been having 90-degree weather for about a week now. Not so comfortable for me, but I'm trying to cope. The nursery is almost finished. The crib now has a mattress. We are just putting the finishing touches in terms of what we want to put up on the walls. Adrian also got an awesome lamp for the nursery. Plus, we commissioned our artist friend Bren, whom I mentioned earlier, to make a painting for the nursery. We can't wait to see it! I hope it's done soon. The nursery will not be complete without it. We have a few pieces of his artwork, one of which can be seen here (2nd row, last painting). This painting is already up in the nursery. If you'd like to know more about Bren, click here. He's not only an amazing artist, but an amazing guy.

We are gearing up for Wine & Dine this weekend. Guests are starting to arrive tonight and festivities will last through Sunday. It will be our last big hoorah before the baby comes. So I should have more pictures to share in the next blog post. Hope you are all doing well!