Out and about in Annapolis

Mike and Baby Derek next to Lolo (to the right of the baby carrier).

















Mike, his brother Emil, Inay and Baby Derek.

 We had wanted to visit the Naval Academy during the last weeks of my pregnancy where Derek's lolo (grandfather/Mike's dad) is interred. Baby came early so we didn't get a chance to.

For those who may not know, Derek is named after his lolo, Federico Favila. He passed away when Mike and his brother Emil were still teenagers and we thought it would be nice to honor his memory since he will not be there to see Baby Derek grow up.

Lolo was an all around badass from the stories Mike has told me. He was a wild child, drinking vodka when he was 5 and burning down playground at some other point. As a teenager, he lived with an older woman (total scandal). But his dad (Derek's great grandfather, who we'll call great Lolo) was the very respected head of the mathematics department at the University of the Philippines. In fact, he penned math textbooks and was a colleague of Albert Einstein. Great Lolo had come to the US to study at UC Berkley back when very few immigrants were attending college.

So Great Lolo wanted to see his son, Derek Sr., make something of himself - so he signed him up for a nationwide exam in the Philippines. Over 20,000 people took the test, the top 4 candidates won admission to one of the US military academies (Naval, Air Force, West Point or Coast Guard). Mike's dad actually was one of those top 4 candidates and won himself a ticket to the US to study at the Naval Academy.

While attending school in Annapolis, he met and married Mike's Mom, Ginny. They moved back to the Philippines and joined Marcos' Administration (the President/of the Philippines at the time, you may remember his wife Imelda with the excessive shoe habit). Both Mike and his brother Emil were born in the Philippines and spent their early years there. After Marcos was deposed for corruption, Lolo Derek returned to the States. He raised Mike and Emil here until he passed away in 1998.

So here we are a blustery weekend in December visiting Lolo Derek at the Columbarium at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. Brr it was chilly, but well worth the trek.