Southern Cross
When you see the Southern Cross for the first time, you understand now why you came this way
Stephen Stills
I have always loved that song.
In so many ways, it has been a large part my life’s soundtrack.
When I first heard it playing on the radio in the early eighties, it evoked a spirit of adventure and images of distant lands across the sea.
I remember one night driving to San Francisco with my kids in our 1984 Volvo station wagon. My youngest son Cristian (Coco) was asleep in his car seat.
As we drove up highway 101 it was late and I was lost in thought wondering where my life would eventually take me.
Little did I know that many years later, I would be overseas in SE Asia running operations for a major Aerospace corporation and travel the world.
As Managing Director, I had the opportunity to travel throughout Asia Pacific. My company was a world leader in the manufacture of hydraulic and geared actuation systems for Boeing and Airbus. In addition to the OEM manufacturing sites, I had responsibility for our aircraft repair stations servicing all the major airlines in the region.
It was a wonderful time. And it was particularly a happy time for my son Cristian who attended the local International School. My older kids were in college in California and would come out for the summer, but Cristian lived with us all year round. What an incredible time in our lives.
Business was booming and we were growing leaps and bounds trying to keep up with customer demand. I had responsibility for all the operations across the Asia Pacific region and I loved my job.
“How in the world did I get here?” I would often ask myself.
I had graduated from UCLA in 1976 and then went onto USC to hone my engineering skills. Later, I joined my dad’s company where we manufactured precision aerospace components. We were a small company but proudly had our hardware on almost every rocket engine launched by the United States. Working with him was great. He was my hero and will always be an inspiration. We sold the company in the 90s and I had to face the sobering reality of looking for a job in the cold hard world.
“De Milagro” (by a miracle), I met a recruiter who was looking for a GM for a multi-national company’s operation in the Philippines. I had no experience in Asia but tossed my hat in the ring.
I was always comfortable with different cultures and although it was a long shot, I hoped I could nail it.
Interviewing with the “big guys” at corporate headquarters was daunting and the same question kept surfacing during the interview…
”What do you know about SE Asia?”
“Well not much to be honest!”…LOL!
I tried to explain how I could make a difference with my limited business experience in Mexico and my comfort with different cultures ….Yet…it was painfully obvious I wasn’t hitting the mark with the senior leadership team.
But then…right then and there…when I thought all was lost…the VP of Human Resources asked me…
”You’re from Southern California...Right?…Where did you go to High School?”….I answered “Servite”…He tossed his head back and laughed….”Oh my gosh…My roommate at Notre Dame went to Servite!!” He laughed again and asked if Fr. Motsko was still there!
He then looked across the table at the other execs and said…
”This guy is alright…Let’s give him a shot….And that was that!!”
Go Black & White!
Next thing I knew we were on a Cathay Pacific flight via Hong Kong to my first assignment in the Philippines.
Twenty five years later after having run operations in SE Asia and Latin America and Europe, I will never forget the trust they placed in me.
My first assignment in the Philippines was relatively small with about 100 employees but we were growing fast. I learned alot back then and felt at times I was drinking out of a fire hose. The corporate world was very different from a family owned business and despite many rookie mistakes, my boss, Steve B, the President of the company never lost faith in me and was my guiding light. We are still close friends today.
It was undoubtedly one of the happiest times in my life.
My wife found us a beautiful home in the mountain hillsides overlooking the Visaya sea. A former coconut plantation house with veranda was everything we could have hoped for.
After five years, my division was sold, but I would go onto run operations in Latin America and Europe and finally once more back to the Philippines to take over all the Asia Pacific business.
We were happiest living overseas. It provided us the chance to experience new cultures and make new and enduring friendships. We travelled extensively…Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, China, Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Viet Nam as well as Australia and New Zealand.
The kids loved it there and it was a wonderful experience for them. The friendships they made while overseas are still strong. Even my grandkids were with us for a few months before my retirement. They still remember riding elephants in Thailand and sailing with their grandpa in the Andaman Sea.
Great memories.
I remember the first time I travelled to Viet Nam in 2002.
The company was considering expanding its manufacturing operations outside of the Philippines and Viet Nam was a natural candidate.
As I touched down in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City now) I thought back to 1971 when I first graduated from Servite and remembered those dicey days during the war and the draft lottery…whew…but for the luck of the draw, I could have been slogging it out in a rice paddy in 90F with a fifty pound rucksack!
Sadly, seeing the battlegrounds in Hue, DaNang, etc. where so many young Americans lost their lives was very moving. Viet Nam was a different place in 2002 and the scars of the war were not evident by the warm welcome of the resilient Vietnamese. Even in the North, the welcome mat for business was rolled out. Yet I couldn’t help but feel a deep sadness for all those who had lost their young lives in a pointless war.
As we walked through the ancient city of Hue, the site of a major battle between the Marines and the NVA, I thought to myself, if not for the draw of a lucky draft lottery number, I could have been one of the fallen.
Later that year, I opened offices in Bangkok and Singapore and Jakarta. Every day I learned more about the varied cultures and how to manage effectively.
SE Asia was great. Such happy memories…It was truly living the dream.
On my off hours and days (not too many) I especially loved sailing with my friend Dirk Van Straalen and my son Cristian.
I remember one time sailing in the South China Sea off the coast of Indonesia. It was a starlit night with a following sea.
My son Cristian had the helm. Watching him handle the sailboat made me proud. He was seventeen and was becoming a competent sailor under the watchful eye of my friend Dirk, an experienced blue water skipper.
I will never forget when Cristian shouted out,
“Dad….Look!….The Southern Cross just off the horizon!…
What a memory.
I wanted that moment to last forever.
But now he is gone.
Tragically, I lost him two years ago when he was thirty five.
I will never be able to see him again in this life, but hope he is at peace and soaring amongst the stars we loved so much while at sea.
Whenever I hear the Southern Cross it takes me back to those incredible days sailing with him.
And despite the incredible sadness I live with everyday,
I know he has his ship and all his flags are flying.
Someday we will sail again on the other side and never be apart.
Last week I was in Kauai. My grandson Matias was at the helm.
As we sailed off the majestic Napali coast we sang songs as we tossed flowers into the ocean for Coco.
What heaven brought you and me cannot be forgotten
in the Southern Cross…
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