For Bobby and Lizzy

I begin this blog for my children, Bobby and Lizzy. While I hope to live a long time, I was reminded of my mortality recently, and I want to leave this journal behind, to remind you both of how much I love you, and how proud I am of you. I also hope that my words can provide comfort and guidance when I am no longer here.
The title I chose, "vista alta", is intended to convey the idea that life is best understood from a high view, and not from the challenges and setbacks which we all must periodically face. At the moment, my distant vision is blurry, a troubling byproduct of my diabetes. But even if my vision deteriorates, and even if my life is shortened by this insidious illness, I have had an exceptionally rich life, and am grateful beyond description. I cannot convey how proud I am of Bobby, who graduates UCLA in June with an outstanding academic record and a good shot at Yale Law School, and of Lizzy, who transfers to UCSD this Fall, to begin the next phase of her own academic journey.
Perhaps I should begin by telling you a little about your old man, though I doubt that any of this will be new to you. I am the proud son of two great parents(grandpa Amador and grandma Josie) who came to the US from Mexico with an 8th grade education, and a determination to provide their kids with a good education. My sister, your aunt Hilda, owns and runs a Minuteman Press in Long Beach. My brother, your uncle Amador, owns a shipping container business also based in Long Beach. I am very proud of both of my siblings.
I am also proud of my own accomplishments. After earning my Bachelor's degree, I worked my way through law school, receiving my Juris Doctorate, followed by a Master's in Business and Tax Laws. I have now practiced law for over twenty-six years. In the early years, I practiced law full-time and taught law part-time(at CSUS and the University of Northern California School of Law). In 1991(the year Lizzy was born!), I accepted a full-time teaching position at Sierra College, and I scaled back my law practice to part-time. I taught and practiced law at Sierra for fifteen years, until accepting an appointment as Associate Dean of Business and Technology. I am currently the Dean of that division, and my goal is to become a college president by the time I reach the age of sixty. For that reason, I will begin studies at UC Davis toward a doctorate in educational leadership.
I wish that I knew more about our family history to share with you. Grandpa Amador used to say that we are descendants of the Aztec indians, but I would love to conduct a genealogical study to learn the specifics of our predecessors.
I'm going to keep this first post---and perhaps every post--- short, so that it does not tax your interest or my attention span.
Love,
Dad