A Poem Dedicated to Me on Turning Ninety Last December, 2024

AI Generated Image of Me at the Balcony of Chateau Du Mer Beach House. The Balcony Baluster is the exact replica of the Baluster of our Beach House in Marinduque. 

With the Help of AI technology here's "Ninety Summers Ago" written as a reflective poem, capturing the essence of my journey, memories, and identity as a Filipino Becoming An American:

 Ninety Summers Ago

Ninety summers ago, and still I rise,

With morning light in aging eyes.
The sea before me, calm and wide,
Chateau Du Mer, my soul’s high tide.

I sip my brew, Kapeng Barako bold,
The cup is chipped, the hands are old.
Yet still they write, still they tend,
To stories that refuse to end.

A boy from Barotac, barefoot, free,
Who climbed guava trees in memory.
The eldest child with dreams so wide,
Who crossed an ocean with love as guide.

Becoming American wasn’t a line,
Drawn in a passport, signed in time.
It was laughter in two tongues heard,
It was poems shaped in every word.

It was loving Macrine, my island star,
Raising children from near and far.
It was orchids blooming in foreign clay,
It was prayers said both night and day.

Now love is softer, slow and wise,
In wrinkled hands and misted eyes.
In caregivers who smile and stay,
In old men flirting like it’s May.

At ninety, grief is a gentle guest,
That sits beside me, lets me rest.
And memory is not sharp or clear,
But warm, like voices I still hear.

You cannot kill a cactus, they say—
It blooms through drought, finds its way.
So too, this soul, though bent with years,
Still gardens hope, still dries its tears.

I write to Macrine in the breeze,
To Derek who cured age with leaves.
To every child who seeks their name,
In stories that outlive the flame.

So here I am, both root and wing,
A poet, father, wandering king.
And every line I leave behind,
Is love preserved, a life defined.

Salamat, Ginoo—my final toast,
For the life I lived, the ones I lost.
For ninety summers, vast and true—For the gift of becoming… and becoming you.

Meanwhile, Did You Know that...... 

One volcano once cooled the entire Earth.

In 1991, Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted with explosive force. It was one of the largest volcanic eruptions of the 20th century.

But its impact reached far beyond the ash cloud.

What really happened?

• Pinatubo shot 20 million tons of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere

• These particles formed a reflective layer around the planet

• That layer blocked sunlight and temporarily cooled Earth by 0.5°C

Yes, half a degree might not sound like much, but it affected global weather.

Cooler temperatures led to shorter growing seasons.

Sunlight levels dropped in many regions.

Even sunsets looked more dramatic due to the volcanic particles.

For a while, one mountain shaped the world’s climate.

Nature has power on a scale we rarely see... and sometimes, it only takes one eruption to shift the balance.

Lastly, Here's my Joke of the Day