Wonderful Fathers

Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay

I was trying to post this one when it was Father’s day, but for some reason I couldn’t get to it. My scheduling ability is almost non-existent. The only thing I am capable of is to run around like a chicken with its head cut off, which means to do things in an aimless and desperate fashion. That’s my art of juggling different tasks.

Here I listed three people I know who I think are really wonderful fathers. However there are other wonderful fathers too.

A Friend’s Husband

This was long time ago when I was taking an evening course in an university where I met M, who’s married with two kids. After a while, we became friends. She lived not far away from me and once she invited me over. They lived in the downtown area of the city in an apartment, where her husband’s company was only two blocks away.

Her husband sent their two daughters to a private elementary school–one girl was 10 and the other was 8 at the time. And since they were not rich, many people couldn’t understand their choice. In the immigrant community, it’s very rare that parents would send their kids to private schools before college. Only rich people do that. Wait, that’s not entirely true. Some people do send their kids to private schools, but usually such a luxury is reserved for boys.

Many people laughed at M and her husband behind their back, thinking that they wasted their money on girls. However I admire her husband’s decision. I mean he grew up in a rural conservative environment in the subtropical area of Asia. But he became a scientist and raised a family, adopting new ideas and trying new things. He’s a wonderful father.

At one point during our dinner, M’s husband explained to me what he had learned from his kid’s teacher from school about education and learning. He even took the time to know their teachers and to discuss about educational issues. I thought to myself what a good father he is.

A Friend’s Father

My friend P has a wonderful father. P and I were classmates in high school. P’s parents got married even if P’s father is 8 years younger than P’s mother. So what? If they didn’t care about the age difference, why should anybody else care about it?

Both of her parents work in an architecture firm. Her father not only cooked meals, and designed and made furniture for their apartment, he also knit sweaters and mend clothes. We were at the boarding school at the time and her father would come to visit her once or twice a month even though P would go home each weekend. Whenever he came for a visit, he tried to talk with me and several others in the dorm. We were at the time living in a big dorm room with 8 people, which was built by Japanese decades ago.

Now looking back, I think I should talk with him more, but I didn’t at the time. I was too closed-up at the time to know that other people are interesting. He was willing to talk about our life in the dorm and the subjects we were studying. Actually he was much more willing to talk and listen than my own parents, who were indifferent to what I did and who I befriended.

An Acquaintance

I met J and his daughter JM when I helped them with some translation issues. JM was attending school in America and J flew over the Pacific to see his daughter several times a year. It’s a loving family and the father really cares about his daughter’s activities and curriculum.

Actually in order to be with his daughter more, he got himself transferred to the company’s Philadelphia office. He’s working for an international shipping company at the time and he’s a senior manager. I think he used his privilege to create a position in Philadelphia for himself. That’s just my guess.

When his daughter graduated and went to the West Coast to attend college, he’s transferred there, just to be close to his daughter. What a nice father he is.