14 Comments
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Lani V. Cox's avatar

I hope your internet gets sorted. Your commitment to continue your parents story is appreciated and noted! And thank you for introducing me to Salin and featuring Thai music, xo

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Jean Vengua's avatar

It got sorted. AT&T failed the test. Xfinity won it, and for $20/mo less!

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Lani V. Cox's avatar

Nice!

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elizp's avatar

Your parents courtship unfurling as Filipinos dare to believe in peace 🥰

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Carla Alicia Tejeda's avatar

How exciting to find these letters! Epistolary presentation is so tricky. I love how they called each other friend, and given the communications of the day, it is clearly their only form of contact.

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Jean Vengua's avatar

Thx, Carla. I started thinking about all the postwar airmail letters going back and forth across the Pacific, and -- given how many letters just my parents and family sent off -- it's kind of mind boggling.

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Stephen Vincent's avatar

Great to read, Jean.

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Leny Strobel's avatar

such a treasure trove, Jean!

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Jean Vengua's avatar

Thx, Leny!

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Rachielle Sheffler's avatar

So excited to read the next letter between your parents. Love the title!

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Candida Kutz's avatar

Congrats on the cover art; it's perfection.

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Jean Vengua's avatar

Great to hear from you, Catie. I sent you a message via email . . .

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Catalina Cariaga's avatar

Jean, I am so behind in reading your letters project. I am REALLY glad that you are taking the time and effort to give the letters the attention they deserve. I have just been moved from a computer to a laptop and a Chromebook. Instead of ease - I have new technology. So bewildering. But I have completed tackled large tasks little by little. My great niece has completed the translations of my Lola Regina's letters from Ilocan into English. 20 letters over 60 pages. I also found a letter from my great-Lola Candida Obado {my mother's grandmother}.

And sifting through last piles of photos, I found a picture of the young families of my father's two youngest brother who migrated to Cagayan de Oro, Mindanao. Dated 1947, and all the names and ages of the children (my first cousins) inscribed on the back. They look so relieved to have survived the WW2. One of the children, I discoverd named Fe called "Ping" - taught English Literature in Cagayan and emigrated to teach in Ottawa, Canada. She is now 82 years old, has 3 children. My cousin Rudy and I are planning a trip to Ottawa in July. i am anxious to send her my Lola Regina's Letters - since she would have memory of Lola fro her childhood.

She speaks English, Tagalog, most fluent in Cebuano and Ilocano she learned from maternal and paternal grandparents. Rachielle Sheffler has been really encouraging and connected me to Professor Aurelio Agcoaili at University of Hawaii Austonesian Language Chair.

So much to do....

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Catalina Cariaga's avatar

Jean, I am so behind in reading your letters project. I am REALLY glad that you are taking the time and effort to give the letters the attention they deserve. I have just been moved from a computer to a laptop and a Chromebook. Instead of ease - I have new technology. So bewildering. But I have completed tackled large tasks little by little. My great niece has completed the translations of my Lola Regina's letters from Ilocan into English. 20 letters over 60 pages. I also found a letter from my great-Lola Candida Obado {my mother's grandmother}.

And sifting through last piles of photos, I found a picture of the young families of my father's two youngest brother who migrated to Cagayan de Oro, Mindanao. Dated 1947, and all the names and ages of the children (my first cousins) inscribed on the back. They look so relieved to have survived the WW2. One of the children, I discoverd named Fe called "Ping" - taught English Literature in Cagayan and emigrated to teach in Ottawa, Canada. She is now 82 years old, has 3 children. My cousin Rudy and I are planning a trip to Ottawa in July. i am anxious to send her my Lola Regina's Letters - since she would have memory of Lola fro her childhood.

She speaks English, Tagalog, most fluent in Cebuano and Ilocano she learned from maternal and paternal grandparents. Rachielle Sheffler has been really encouraging and connected me to Professor Aurelio Agcoaili at University of Hawaii Austonesian Language Chair.

So much to do....

Expand full comment