Meeting Jennifer in Manila

Seven months after I got that first email from the Provido Family Trust, I was finally ready to take my first trip overseas to meet Jennifer face to face. We made plans for her and her mom to meet me in Manila, where we would spend a couple of days roaming around the city, then head south for Mindanao and her home town of General Santos City.

Leaving Fort Lauderdale, Florida, around 7:00 AM on May 31, 2002, I traveled halfway around the world to land in Manila, Philippines, late on the evening of June 1st. I was supposed to call from the airport and have the hotel driver come and pick me up, with Jennifer and her mom coming along so that we could meet face to face for the first time right there at the international airport. But I had remembered to bring every single thing I needed, except for the phone number of the hotel.

So I rounded up a cart and loaded my two 70 pound balikbayan boxes, my American Tourister carry-on bag, and a book bag I had brought for Jennifer. I wheeled them all down the outside ramp to the pickup area to see if they had possibly decided not to wait for my call. Not a chance, hehehe. So I pushed the 200 pounds of baggage back up the ramp and I took a taxi to the hotel.

While I was signing in at the front desk, I saw Jennifer - for the first time ever in person - coming through the hallway with her mother behind her. I quite literally do not remember anything I said for the first three minutes, though I know I was talking non-stop the whole time!

The picture above is the first one ever taken of Jennifer and me together. Her mom took it while we sat on the sofa in their room, finally beginning to realize that, yes, this is for real!!

Below is a picture of the two of them together, no doubt trying to gracefully take in all the travel weary English that was still pouring over them both even as I snapped my first picture of Jennifer and her mom.