In the summer of 2025, I traveled to the Phillipines, my mother’s home country, with my Lola and several family members. There, we experienced a moment in time to reflect on our cultural heritage, bridging two daughters of complex dynamics with their mother, and four Filipino-Americans discovering a deeper perspective of their grandma.

Ultimately, I sought to explore the complex emotions that surfaced as my 93-year-old Lola, navigating the early stages of dementia, visited her homeland for likely the last time.