On May 31, 2013, Inday lost one of her biggest supporters—financially, emotionally and yes, photographically (is there even a word?). Inday lost her dad.

He was with Inday on several of her visits to New York and San Francisco. He took Inday on her first trip to Kota Kinabalu and even attempted to teach her how to play golf (not sure who was more frustrated—him or Inday) He took her pictures at the Marina in Singapore and was perplexed at the really baduy poses that she made. “Ganyan talaga ang pose na gusto mo?” Yes dad, ako si Inday remember?  Inday even walked the streets of Washington DC with him.

at the Smithsonian, Washington DC

And, even before I unveiled my Inday alter ego, he and my mom took our whole family to HongKong and then to the US to discover the Magic in the Kingdom, meet Jaws and King Kong and see where Norman Bates went Psycho. He drove us around LA and SF while the rest of us slept in the van. (He wasn’t very happy about that). And years later, he took us to Boracay for a family outing at the newly-opened Shangri-La where Inday found many spots for photo ops.

When I finally decided to start chronicling Inday’s adventures, I was a little worried about what he would think. The rest of the family had already offered their rounds of applause and pats on the back, but he had yet to read my entries. And then, one night in San Francisco, he finally had some time to see what Inday had been up to, and he gave me the thumbs up. He said he enjoyed reading my tales of adventures and misadventures. Dad was never one to say something nice, just to be nice, so I knew that his positive reviews were sincere.

I wish that we had more adventures to share together, more cities to discover, more photo ops, but I know that no matter where Inday travels to from here, he will always be with her, probably shaking his head and thinking, “Ganyan talaga ang pose na gusto mo?”

Till our next adventure Dad.  I miss you.