"Your father and I, we both have moles on the soles of our feet!" my mother always told me while I was growing up.

She was convinced that if your foot had a mole on its sole, you would always be itching to wander around the world. It must have been those moles that sent my mother and father sailing away in 1920 from the town of Tierra Verde in the Philippines to seek adventure and fortune in the sugarcane plantations of Hawaii.

I was born and raised here, but I was weaned on the stories my parents told me about the town they left behind. In my young mind, the map of Tierra Verde took shape and came to life- its verdant mountains, lush forests, pristine streams, towering trees, and crystal rivers.

I wondered what sort of magic the moles possessed, to have charmed my parents away from such a beautiful country.