My father

I remember I was so excited when our whole family moved into our new home in Ang Mo Kio. It was a four room flat and it’s our first very own home, just for the five of us. Before that, we were staying in a three-room flat with my grandparents and uncle. Hmm, I was probably still studying in primary school then. I remember that day when we moved, I was carrying my favourite teddy panda, Juan Juan, in my arm. Ha, as a child, moving house was not really a hassle for me, my parents had already packed all the stuff for us :P For a couple of weeks when we first moved in, I remember we did not have a set of sofa at all in our living room. We were sitting on a straw mat whenever we wanted to watch any television programme. That was pretty fine for the three of us because that would mean more space for us to run about as children. It was no big deal for us at all. It was much later that my mummy told us that our father had spent all his savings renovating the house and buying some stuff, there was not enough money to buy a set of sofa. We could only buy a set of sofa when my father got the next pay check…Hmm, my father showed me how hard he had really worked for this family, he always does what he can to support and care for his family…

…I remember I was cycling at East Coast Park, I was still a little girl who had just learnt how to cycle. I fell and my knee was bleeding, wanted to cry when my father approached me but stopped myself. He asked if I could stand up, I nodded my head. He asked me to stand up on my own slowly and he would accompany me to our chalet to wash the wound…he has always shown that he cares but I know he doesn’t pamper. I remember he once described me as a well-protected flower bud, not having gone through hardships and pain in life at all. Wonder if he still feels that I am one…

My father was raised in a poor family. As a child, he worked at a fruit stall during the weekends to help support the family or probably to earn some pocket money. He told us that as a child, he only got to eat chicken, maybe two slices, during Chinese New Year. That probably explains why he is someone who does not waste food.

When I was a child, I always felt that he was very strict or should I say firm. Good attitude, manners and character have been considered important to him. He has probably never given us hugs or told us he loved us but he never fails to show his love for us in his own little ways. He was the one who drove us to school, sometimes early in the morning. He was the one who worked really hard to put us through university, he was determined to see each of us graduate with a degree even if it meant having to send us abroad. He is the one who will lend a listening ear whenever we need to make some major decisions in life. He is the one I would go to for road directions, wonder why he has a daughter with such poor sense of direction. He is the one I call when my car tyre punctured or when I cannot start my car engine, feel so ashamed of myself at times :P I would say he has been a pillar of support to our mother and three of us all these years.

I looked at him during dinner today…he has aged. I looked at his hands, I liked holding his hands when I was still a little girl, wonder if it is strange to hold his hand now…Whatever that we have now, whoever we are now, I should say we owe them to our father. I hope we have not disappointed him…