I’VE been thinking of this moment for years – returning to writing/talking about my thoughts and moments on everything that I come across – like I used to do when I had my cable TV shows – and my newspaper columns in the local/regional papers – the last of which were published in Baguio City’s SunStar...

And so I am happy that I am resuming my column right here in SunStar Baguio – where I left off some decade or so ago – when I joined the academe (Philippine Military Academy), Malacañang (Office of the Press Secretary) and then the United Nations (in Afghanistan and Iraq)...

This is not some spur-of-the-moment thing – I’ve been communicating with the youthful publisher for around a year now – and he had always been gracefully welcoming... [And he’s a revelation himself as a writer – and photographer!]

But, for want of a new column title, I tarried...

What should I call my column now? It used to be alternating “Up North” and “Life Up North” and “Up North with Au Alambra” – but, on hindsight, it may have limited the topics – and my life – to mostly the north: Northern Luzon? North of the equator? North of the galaxy?

I thought of playing with my first name – Aurora – so-named because I was born at dawn...

Or with my family name – Alambra – that my religious late Dad used to break down into Allah (God) / Lamb (Jesus) / Ra (Sun God)...

I got a long list of permutations there...

But, for now, to finally make the first step toward continuing/resuming my column long-missed – at least by myself – let the title be what it was before – and more: “Life Up North & Beyond...”

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Gratitude Time:

“Gratitude is the heart’s memory ” – French proverb

“Gratitude is the memory of the heart” – Jean-Baptiste Massieu

“... As we express our gratitude, we must never forget the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” - John F. Kennedy

Many thanks to SunStar Baguio Publisher Reinaldo A. Bautista, Jr. – better known as Peter Rey Bautista (who had served as the youngest-ever Baguio City mayor, among the many hats he wears and had worn) – for this opportunity to have my thoughts and my moments on hard print once more...