When I was four years old and living in the Philippines, there was an elderly man who would come around our street once or twice a month to beg for food. He was ill and had a difficult time speaking. Nobody in the neighborhood seemed to know his name. Every time he came, my Lolo, or grandfather, greeted him with a hearty "Hello My Friend!" From then on, all of us children called him "My Friend".

When I was in fourth grade, I brazenly asked my father to buy me a pair of penny loafers. You see, the penny loafer fad had not fully caught on around my school yet, but I wanted to be among the first to own one. After waiting an eternity for his reply, he answered “Abby, we cannot give you everything… but we will deprive you of nothing.” I didn’t quite understand what my father meant. I figured it was just a nice way of saying “no.”