It is that time of the year for graduations and vacations. When I was growing up many decades ago, we looked forward to this time of the year. No more classes, it is fiesta season in the provinces and our busy parents take time off to enjoy the summer with us, their children. Fun and the sun… away from the noise and heat of the city… to the refreshing waters by a beach or a waterfall some place where everyday worries vanish as if by magic.

I look back at the eight decades of my life and I can tell you that life should be made of wonderful memories like these. As a businessman, the best investments I have made were not in pesos and centavos but on the time I purposely set aside to be away with my family, specially while my children were growing up.

As the years pass, you will realize money, a common excuse for being too busy, isn't as important as the opportunity to bond with your children. Luckily for us Filipinos, it also does not take a lot of money to have memory building vacations in our paradise of a country. We are always, somehow, not too far from an idyllic vacation place. All that’s needed is for us to provide the time for a getaway.

With the Internet and the various tourism websites, it had never been easier to pick a place anywhere in our country for a vacation. ABS-CBN has a website, choosephilippines.com with so many choices for any budget or level of adventure desired. With budget airlines and ro-ro ports, traveling to your choice destination need not cost an arm and a leg too. So go ahead and enjoy the days of summer with the people you love as you learn about your country as well. 

Take a lot of pictures, now made even easier and cost effective with digital cameras. Do it every year and compile albums and albums of memories… see how your children have fun as they grow before your eyes. And when you get to be 80, I tell you these memories will keep you going as you look back and see how blessed you had been, how good life had been to you. 

Enjoy your summer break with your family! 

OSCAR M. LOPEZ