The Obamas

This is cute...wish our president were more like him...

A Beautiful Letter of a Father to His Children

Found this is my inbox today, forwarded by my Ninang to me.  Thought it was a nice way to start the day:

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The following is a beautiful letter written by a father to his children.  The words are actually applicable to all of us, young or old, parents or grandparents.  We can all learn something out of it for sure and use this in guiding and teaching our children.   

Dear Children,

I am writing this to you because of 3 reasons.  Life, fortune and mishaps are unpredictable and nobody knows how long I'll live.  Some words are better said early.  I am your father, and if I don't tell you these, no one else will.  What is written is my own personal bitter experiences that perhaps could save you a lot of unnecessary heartaches.

Remember the following as you go through life...

1. Do not bear grudge towards those who are not good to you. No one has the responsibility of treating you well, except your mother and I. To those who are good to you, you have to treasure it and be thankful, and ALSO you have to be cautious, because, everyone has a motive for every move. When a person is good to you, it does not mean he really likes you. You have to be careful, don't hastily regard him as a real friend.

2. No one is indispensable, nothing in the world that you must possess. Once you understand this idea, it would be easier for you to go through life when people around you don't want you anymore, or when you lose what/who you love most.

3. Life is short. When you waste your life today, tomorrow you would find that life is leaving you. The earlier you treasure your life, the better you enjoy life.

4. Love is but a transient feeling, and this feeling would fade with time and with one's mood. If your so called loved one leaves you, be patient, time will wash away your aches and sadness. Don't over exaggerate the beauty and sweetness of love, and don't over exaggerate the sadness of falling out of love.

5. A lot of successful people did not receive a good education, that does not mean that you can be successful by not studying hard! Whatever knowledge you gain is your weapon in life. One can go from rags to riches, but one has to start from some rags!

6. I do not expect you to financially support me when I am old, either would I financially support your whole life. My responsibility as a supporter ends when you are grown up. After that, you decide whether you want to travel in a public transport or in your limousine, whether rich or poor.

7. You honor your words, but don't expect others to be so. You can be good to people, but don't expect people to be good to you. If you don't understand this, you would end up with unnecessary troubles.

8. I have bought lotteries for umpteen years, but I never strike any prize. That shows if you want to be rich, you have to work hard! There is no free lunch!

9. No matter how much time I have with you, let's treasure the time we have together. We do not know if we would meet again in our next life.

Your Dad

Thank You Daddy

A couple of weeks ago, our family had a health scare when my dad suffered a minor heart attack.  He lives alone in China most parts of the year and he had to go through an angioplasty immediately after being admitted into the hospital.  He's recovering well these days, but that scare has made me realize how fragile and short life can be.  

My dad, (or "Daddy", as we still call him now even though we're all grown ups) is only in his early 60's.  For more than half my life, I've had a "long distance" relationship with Daddy since my family immigrated to Canada in the early '90s.  We even had a name for our family.  We were what you would call a "satellite family", wherein the members of the family lived in different places at one time or another.  During those days when the Internet and cellphones were not mainstream yet, we communicated through long distance phone calls, snail mail and fax machines.  It was quite expensive maintaining several households in different countries, but we managed to keep in touch with each other.  

Being an only girl and growing up with two brothers, I was always Daddy's girl.  My favorite memory about my younger years was that my mom would usually give us a hard time about our homework.  And I would always wish that Daddy would come home early so that Mom would tell Dad to tutor me.  And when I'm passed on to Dad, he would always just ask me "Do you already know this lesson?"  I'd say yes and he'd let me go.  Hehe.  Mind you, I really did know my lessons and I would usually get high marks for my exams.

Growing up in a traditional Chinese family, I grew up knowing that some families put more importance on sons than daughters (with sons being able to carry the family name and all).  But I never felt that with my Dad.  Of course he was a bit more protective towards me than my brothers, but he always encouraged me to be the best in everything and he told me that I can be just as good as the boys.  In school, I excelled in Math and Sciences, but didn't really do that well in Home Economics.  And when he was going to play baseball or shoot some hoops, he never excluded me from these games.  He even allowed me to buy my own golf clubs so I can learn golf with my brothers.

My Dad has also given us the freedom to explore and see the world on our own.  He wasn't a very hands-on dad coz while we were still small, he spent a lot of time at work.  Times were harder then.  But as we grew older, my mom and dad always took us to trips.  We even saw our ancestral home in rural China when I was just 8 years old.  And that opened my eyes to how lucky we were because we had running hot water at home and I could wear jeans, even if I was a girl.  My Dad was even the one who pushed me to learn how to drive.   And I'm very thankful that I can drive, even in Manila driving conditions...hehe.

Now that I have my own boys to raise, I sincerely hope that I will be able to give them the same freedom that my Dad has bestowed on me, so that they learn how to be independent and they see the world, beyond what Rod and I can offer them.  I also hope that my boys grow up to be good men just like my Dad and that they eventually love their daughters as much as my Dad loved me.

Thank you Daddy for being a wonderful father.  

Happy Father's Day!

For driving me (Joshua) to school every morning,

For playing wrestling with us,

For taking care of our needs,

For being there when we need you,

For drying our tears when we are sad or hurt,

For loving us everyday.

Thank you and happy father's day!

WE LOVE YOU!