2 weeks ago I was in Guam. It literally is a trip through time and space. As you fly West over the Pacific, the time keeps falling back hour by hour, until you hit the International Date Line, at which point you jump ahead a day. I’ve got a lot of family who live there that I got to visit. But unfortunately, the reason for my visit was not such a happy one. My grandfather (Ping to his friends, “grandpa” or just “papa” to his family) passed away a few weeks ago. He was a good man who did a lot for the island of Guam, most of which I had no idea about until after. But there was no question what he did for his family. Family was such an important thing to him. He had 8 children, 25 grandchildren, and 16 great grandchildren. Despite such a sad occasion, as a family, we came together to mourn, to celebrate, and to connect, even though it had been years since some of us had seen each other.

Grandpa had this thing he always did to us grandkids. For some reason he liked to rub our ears between his fingers. I don’t think I ever figured out why he liked doing that so much, and I think for some of us (especially as we got older) it started to get annoying. But I think now, it’s safe to say we all miss it.

The Guam Pacific Daily News did a story about him.

I only took one camera with me to Guam. My Canon AE-1. These photos were taken over the period of a week while I was there.

Canon AE-1
Kodak Portra VC ISO 160 (expired 12/2008)