College

Our house is too big now
We're missing our teen
With her up in college
We've lost our routine.

Her room has her stuff
Lots of movies and books
It's just as she left it
Every time we take looks.

Our chores are now different
We clean a bit less
We're cooking for two
There's not that much mess.

We love that she's learning
But school's a good drive
With FaceTime and texts though
We're not too deprived.

For all of us three
We feel all the feels
It's a new phase of life
Let's see what reveals!

FreeCell

My Mom is a fan of FreeCell. Whenever she talks about playing games on the computer, it's invariably FreeCell.

I have fond memories of Mom playing Klondike, also known as old-style Solitaire. When I was growing up, she played with actual cards, shuffling and laying them down in columns on the table. It was a way to pass the time, and I sensed the game's calming influence on her. She was a nurse in a busy city hospital, so relaxing with Solitaire must have been a nice break for her.

FreeCell is different from Klondike, and I don't know how she would have gotten into it aside from the game being on Microsoft Windows. Like Klondike, FreeCell is a card game played by one person. These are known as patience games. Unlike Klondike, however, FreeCell is a game where nearly every hand is winnable. According to the fantastically detailed FreeCell Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page, every hand (except one) that Microsoft FreeCell generates is a hand you can win.

My current Solitaire game is by Solebon, and it contains fifty different patience games. One of these is FreeCell, and for the past few weeks I've been playing it. The FAQ is right: many of the games I start I can actually "win". Its statistics report that I've won 13 in a row so far. FreeCell requires you to think a few moves ahead, so there's a bit of strategy involved, which I like.

I think of Mom when I play, how patient she seems to be when she's playing her card games. She had to be patient working as a nurse and raising three boys, so how hard could a card game be? Whenever I get stuck in FreeCell, I wonder what she would do with this hand. My FreeCell has an Easy mode and an Undo button and I can't wait to show her.

An Immigrant's Gratitude

Typhoon Haiyan ripped through the Philippines, devastating the city of Tacloban on the island of Leyte. It was a worrisome time because I do have close and distant relatives in various parts of that island nation. After the storm passed, and our relatives were accounted for, I was left with gratitude.

I was at the barber recently, and the person who cut my hair casually asked where I was from. "New Jersey," I said. "Were you born there?" he asked. "No, I was born in the Philippines."

He listened as I told my immigration story (I was born in Manila, and I came here when I was three years old) , and I listened to his own immigration story (he was born in Italy, and he came here when he was thirteen). We both became American citizens when we were young: me before high school, and him before joining the US military.

"I think immigrants like you and me are more grateful for what we have here in the US," he said.

That is probably true.

The last time I visited the Philippines, I was ten years old. I was boy running, swimming and playing in the hot sun every day. My memories of that long vacation are wonderful, but I also remember how very different it was from the United States. I knew I preferred the "comfort" of Jersey City, New Jersey.

Being an immigrant means you or your parents have come from someplace else. Being an immigrant is to be aware of two ways of living, and awareness is at least one ingredient to being grateful.

Tomorrow, the people of the Philippines will continue their lives, as best as they are able to. My Mom said that it doesn't take a lot to make a Filipino happy. I'm grateful for this trait.

Tomorrow, I'm going to sit down to the most American meal possible. My wife said she has enough cranberry sauce. I'm grateful.