I saw a woman standing near the edge of a road in Cagayan de Oro. She clutched her baby as a car packed with foreigners attempted to share the same narrow space. To be true, it was hardly a road at all, as squatters by the hundreds built shanties out of tin and shoelaces and rubber tires on the road’s shoulder–illegal dwellings that spilled into the road, few of them larger than the space reserved for my water heater at home. The woman looked right at me. Her eyes were rich and pearly-black, her skin the color and texture of yellowed bamboo. I watched her take handfuls of water from a bucket to wash her baby’s backside. No baby wipes, no diapers and certainly no bath tub. The water splashed onto the hot road and the naked baby did not shy away from the cool wash. She used her bare hands to wipe him clean. She did this with a sweetness that settled me. This is my first experience in a developing world. This is also where our rag-tag bunch of misfits begin our annual retreat.

We spend our first day with Dino’s amazing mother, Marites, and his father, who offer us a feast of homemade Philippine dishes (so f’in delicious). Dino’s father watches us eat, smiling majestically and never saying a word. We are welcomed and loved. It does not feel like a vacation but more a reunion with my own family, as though I’d known the Chengs all my life. In the afternoon we pile into Pegasus II and drive to the local port where we ferry to Camiguin Island. Here the level of development declines. The roads become narrower and dark. There are few cars. People walk or ride little motobikes that zoom in an out of lanes. The late nights are filled with the sound of nearby seas and cooing roosters. Under a sky of diamond stars, our retreat fully kicks off.

We’ve done so much this year, more than any year at Misfit. We gave our life energies, our creative energies, and our full attention to everything we’ve endeavored. We’ve traveled like mad, adventured, activated our own dreams, helped those who could not otherwise find help, and inspired lives across the world. Every project we worked on this year–every one, mattered. The retreat is our time to reflect on what we’ve accomplished. It is our time to create memories with our dearest friends, the ones with whom we’ve taken on the world. It is just as much our time to be grateful and humbled that we can live our lives fulfilled. Perhaps it is this reason we travelled so far to have our retreat in a place like Camiguin. Although we enjoy inordinate amounts of decadence and experiences and whiskey (as is the Leon way), we are at all times conscious of and humbled by our surroundings. We share our joy with the city.

It is an inseparable reality that in order to change the world, one must know it. We must appreciate and love it’s people.

We must understand it’s lands and cultures as our own. It is with that understand that the pursuits of a misfit go beyond the elevation of self to the elevation of many.

In our time together, we travel to even more remote islands, eat fresh clams on banana leaves, drink cold beer by the gallons, laugh, hug, snorkel, adventure, and toast to the lives we live. We do not take for granted our time or each other. Each day that follows is lifted by similar enchantments, from mountain-side hot springs to touring volcanic ruins. Our best times are when we are together, drinking and laughing under the stars. In these moments, I find my self happier than I think I deserve. Being a Misfit means many, many things to many people. But to me, above all else, being a Misfit means being together. The year to come will be the year that reaches the insane heights of AJ’s aspirations. And as we sit on a beach, reflecting our remarkable year and looking forward to a year that will be bigger, harder and more daunting than any before, we do so with courage. Because we are together. Because we are an eclectic collection of blazing spirits and humble hearts. Because AJ’s aspirations make up the sum of all our aspirations. Because we are motherfucking Misfits, who, together can accomplish wonders. @ajleon, @melissaleon, @jessiewhite, @mandinocheng, @shobecheng, @misfitchloe, Jerome, @neongeomatrix, @genspin, Mirko and Karen, I thank all of you. I thank you for your kindness and friendship and grace. You inspire and teach me everyday and I am so grateful to know each of you.