It’s 1:30am, and I have a few hours before our Uber arrives to take us to the airport. And that will begin a trip we’ve been planning for a year now. In about 24 hours we’ll land in Tokyo, where we’ll explore for three days before flying onward to Manila on Friday.

Between Dec. 19 and March 13 we’ll travel around the Philippines, with lots and lots of diving and eye-opening experiences.

It is, as we’ve been saying, our trip of a lifetime. This comes as a big sigh of relief following my retirement 18 months ago, marks our 20th wedding anniversary, and my 65th birthday.

This is also a period which brings the passing of a number of friends. And cancer bringing a number of other friends to their knees. I suppose we are all too aware of the limited time ahead, and we are dearly holding on to what remains for us.

And, at the same time, we have seen our third grandchild enter the scene. Gabriel joins Jackson (6) and Nate (4), and they are all just so very wonderful together.

It’s a crazy time in the world these past months. Crazy in ways deeply frightening and fractious. People are being treated horribly and inhumanely; policies being announced at lightening speed, often contradictory; tariffs making the economy and prices reel.

Pattie and I are hoping to see a world that opens our eyes to more and more possibilities, rather than being surrounded by the limiting views that seem so prevalent today.

We’re off.