East of the Sun | West of the Moon

Mom tells us about her mom, our amah - leaving her family in China to come to the Philippines to marry angkong , her dad and our grandfather. She speaks of their love letters, written in the most beautiful calligraphy.  According to amah, these letters contained their courtship. Lyrical descriptions of his adventures and challenges. Scholarly texts he'd read and deep thoughts generated. Insights and inspiration angkong intimately shared with amah.  Though they spoke it fluently none of their children could read and write in Chinese characters. So they listened avidly as their mother read them her treasured love letters. She kept them in a locked camphor chest. Part of a set of four that came with her as her dowry.  antique Chinese camphor chest or baul Years later we would dig through these exotically carved trunks which we called ba-ul s . These depicted in meticulous detail life in ancient China before Mao's communist revolution. 

What is belief but faith lived and experienced. A testament to what we believe. What we feel we are worthy of in this world.  Ages ago at university we had a nearby watershed we could easily escape to. Minutes away from campus and an overcrowded metropolis we are under cavernous canopies of mist fed giant ferns and cushions of moss blanketing the ground.  In the pounding spray of the waterfall we drop our cares as we peel off into crystal cold pools. Wading wet and wild through shadowed trails and streams. Heat and sweat cooling off in the chill damp air.  Trailing off from the others in our private bubble - closing in, touching, breathless.