The Man of the House

As I opened the door, I saw a familiar face. He looked up and smiled with his face full of dirt and soot from the renovation. During the holidays, I was too busy cooking, buying presents, spending time with friends and cousins, that I failed to notice how old my parents are getting. It wasn't until yesterday when I saw my dad's face that it hit me hard- my daddy was no longer my daddy, but my dad. Seeing him and watching him carrying one bag of bricks each step at a time, this feeling of uneasiness grew in me. Here I was chatting to a friend about how stressed I am because I've reached a wall in my career path..and here's a man at the age of 54(unschooled, streetsmart, handyman, stubborn* but a successful businessman and property owner), doing a job that should be for 5 men. I slept like a baby last night with inspirational thoughts exemplified by dad's physical and emotional strengths. A few flashbacks:

• four years while visiting my dad's birthplace, the craze in China was the Japanese straight perm, so of course I asked my dad where the coolest salon was..and he brought me there and we asked for the straight perm which cost about 50 USD which would have cost over $300 here at the time, the stylist warns me that it was going to take about 5 hours..stupidly I agreed. Now, my poor dad, he was afraid i didn't know how to walk back to the condo from the salon..he waited with me ..sitting there watching whatever they had on tv..i felt so awful.


• growing up..sundays were always family days. shopping malls, philadelphia trips, upstate trips, flea markets, cousin's place. Dad drove us everywhere on Sunday. When we took a trip to niagara falls, he bought us tickets to all the wacky shows. It was such a great time.

He may be a very traditional stubborn man who speaks broken engrish, has gold hoops on one ear, and we may argue from time to time to time, and there are times where I disapprove of his behavior, but he is my daddy.

When I had my 2nd flat tire today, my daddy came to the rescue...tadada.

O and a belated happy 2009 - l'an deux mille neuf!!