I grew up in a difficult environment. The adults around me back then were always fighting because they were struggling to make ends meet. Every day was a challenge. But every year before Christmas, my family will receive a huge box with a lot of presents from the US. The gifts were from my uncle. My uncle moved to the US from the Philippines after graduating from college and never came back. I used to believe he was Santa Claus. My siblings and I will always ask him for presents every Christmas, and he will gladly send little toys and chocolates. I always asked for books. He sent me story books, novels and encyclopedias. Because of that, I learned how to love studying and I would always write to him how much I was excelling in school because of all the books he sent me. 

However, when I was a sophomore in high school, my uncle died. He didn't have a spouse nor any kids of his own. No one in the family in the Philippines has ever visited him. And I wanted to pay him my respects because I will not be who I am now if not for the support and encouragement he gave me and my siblings when we were growing up. So I wanted to find him and put flowers in his grave. He taught as a professor in the City College of San Francisco and lived in San Rafael, California. I plan to look for his resting place there. I want him to know that he has a family in the Philippines who greatly appreciated his love and I want to show him just that.