ANGELA Oca Marcos over 80 years old. She’s a retired teacher who taught for 32 years at the California Santa Maria Public School district. (Santa Maria is adjacent to Santa Barbara, California, where I attended photography school.) She handled intermediate and junior high school students and has taught subjects like geography, history and literature.

Happy and contented

At this stage in her life, Angela is happy and contented. She loves listening to the birds chirping in the morning. She plays the piano and sings. She exercises and enjoys her walks in the park.

Angela was only five years old when she carried some firecrackers in her skirt and poured them into a shoebox.

Unfortunately, the box exploded thereafter and the incident left her blind. She later attended the School for the Deaf and Blind in Pasay. Despite her disability, the optimistic octogenarian has managed to live a fruitful life.