Rowena Palomar, executive director at Advocates for Victims of Violence, Inc. in Valdez, packed a lot into her family’s trip to the Philippines.

“I was able to give my children the chance to know and meet their relatives outside the U.S. It also gave me the time to resolve a longtime family dispute. It gave me the break I needed to keep my sanity after working long hours and giving so much of myself to my work in assisting people affected by domestic violence and sexual assault,” she wrote.

Palomar spent time with old friends and revisited her first, beloved job as a tour guide in the Philippines. She even guided some tours and found that all the information came back. She turned her day’s pay and tips over to the bus driver. “I wasn’t there for the fee,” she wrote. “I was there to show my children where I started and to do something I love and enjoy doing the most, being a tour guide . . . it brought back good memories.”

She reveled in well-earned self-indulgence: “I didn’t have to make breakfast, bring the kids to school and go directly to work or answer a crisis call the moment I opened my eyes, What a wonderful feeling! I treasured that moment and told myself . . . life is so good.”

Among the lessons Palomar took from the experience was about her health. She learned she has high blood pressure. “It only shows how much I have ignored myself because of my hectic schedule and long hours at work. Since that time, I don’t take my health for granted.”