Anna M. Aquino

            I have never been a lover of cold weather.  I can remember that when I lived in the north going out to scrape my car windows muttering “Dear God Please send me somewhere warm!”  Well.  He did.  I lived in Florida for over 13 years.  For over 13 years I experienced the seasons of “hot and hotter”.   While Florida weather isn’t ideal, flip flops are a clothing “must have” year round.  I hardly ever wore socks.  For 13.5 years I visited colder weather fondly at Christmas time, and then returned to climates where their idea of winter weather meant you might have to throw on a sweatshirt.  While I always missed the seasons I NEVER missed the cold.              My family and I moved to Ohio this year in June.  We all knew this was God’s doing. While I knew the winter months would be arriving, I tried very...

My dad is one of the toughest men I have ever been around in the natural. He was a grunt soldier in Vietnam, and survived an entire tour spending 99% of that time in the bush. To put that in the perspective of statistics, the life expectancy of a grunt soldier in Vietnam was two weeks. Daddy survived thirteen months at the height of the war. Which I will readily credit, was both: the hand of God on his life, and my daddy’s refusal to quit. It is no wonder that while growing up to me, he was a larger than life character. He’s since survived all sorts of health issues, most likely caused by Agent Orange. In short my daddy is a survivor. He had lived through ordeals that most would give up in. He has fought to stay alive in the midst of horrible trauma. He has always said to me, “You have two choices in life: You can either lie down and die, or get up and keep fighting.” I get a little annoyed when I hear people start to whine and complain ...