Joji Koyuri, 74, hands backpacks to his twin children Lex and Max, 5, as they leave a taxi cab for school. Joji achieved his lifetime dream of becoming a father at the age of 69, paying “enough to wipe out (his) retirement savings” to go through surrogacy attempts in Nepal and Cambodia before successfully finding a surrogate in the United States. Raising the two children can be a challenge for the aging Joji, who sometimes struggles to keep up with their energy and demands.

Joji, who moved to the United States for college from an at-war Vietnam in 1970, is also operating entirely on his own. While he has a partner, the partner, located over eight hours south of San Francisco in Palm Springs, is only able to visit the children and help with domestic tasks once per month. That leaves much of the responsibility of caretaking to Joji, who says that “saying I have my hands full is a major, major understatement”.

Joji hugs Max after an argument about taking the bus to school on their last day of kindergarten. The argument culminated in the bus leaving without the twins and Joji calling a taxi instead.

“Raising children by myself is incredibly hard… (but) if I die before they graduate high school, I will die with my eyes open,” he says, reflecting on the reality of his age. “That’s a Chinese saying. I will still have so much worry, so much grievance, that I will not be able to go. But if I see them graduate high school, graduate college… then I will be happy.”

Lex reaches his hand toward the other houses outside his taxi window after arriving at school while Joji reflects on his experience as a parent from the adjacent seat.

“If I had any regret here, it would be that I didn’t try,” Joji says. “First try (with surrogacy) and I got these two beautiful boys, these two troublemakers. In my hardest time, I just remind myself that I do believe in one doctrine: karma. It’s cyclical. Without children, once you die, everything stops there.”

Lex wakes Joji from a much-needed nap in the apartment stairwell with a kiss on the cheek. “They can both be so affectionate when they are not using their screens,” Joji says. Joji is currently working to cut back on the twins’ screen time in order to build closer family relations.

Joji takes a moment to rest on the staircase to Max and Lex’s room after struggling with the twins to get them into bed. “I am Asian, I’m gay, I’m a senior, I’m a bona fide single parent,” Joji says. “I have no partner to help me domestically. I have all of these things against me."

Max hides his face behind a toy brick as Joji tries to feed him his dinner. Everyday tasks like going to school and eating can sometimes be an ordeal for Joji as he navigates the twins’ behavior without assistance from a partner. Still, “you couldn’t buy this with money”, Joji says. “I know that (their future) all depends on my guidance and care.”

Lex picks a cherry from a bowl while Max and Joji search unsuccessfully for a spoon in their apartment to dig in the rooftop garden. Eating together is one of the main ways that Joji, Lex and Max interact after the twins get home from school each day.

Joji, Lex and Max share bowls of cherries on the top floor of their apartment. “This one is a twin cherry,” Joji says of a two-cherry stem, “like you and your brother”. Lex and Max were born a minute apart five years ago, with Max claiming the title of older sibling.

Max dances on a table on the rooftop of their apartment as Joji watches, laughing but always vigilant to ensure Max doesn’t come too close to the edge. “Max is exactly like a carbon copy of me,” Joji says, “but he’s more intense than I am. I was raised like a flower in a warm house—born to a wealthy family. I’m not rich now, but I am comfortable.”

Max makes a pretend telescope out of an empty juice bottle to look out of their fifth-floor window, which gives a wide-reaching view of San Francisco’s South of Market (SoMa) district.

“I’ve made some achievements in my life; I think my biggest is having these boys,” Joji says. “Meeting my partner is another. And being a professional actor for a year, that’s another one. But I’m optimistic for the future for (the twins).”