My Dad, a King in my eyes!
When we were growing up, my Dad would always tell us that we were part royalty because of our last name. That’s right, you can call me Princess from now on. We thought it was just a nice bed time story that he’d made up for his five subjects, that’s three of his princesses and two princes.
As I entered into adulthood, I often heard from other sources that our ancestors once roamed the court where the Kings and Queen lived (we’re talking about eons ago when Kings and Queens ruled Viet Nam). That is all I know of my family history, I wished I knew more.
Although my Dad came from the older generation where fathers’ involvement in child rearing is nonexistent (it’s the women’s responsibilities to tend to the children’s affairs). He was an atypical Dad where he didn’t mind taking care of us, giving us baths, washing our diapers (no disposable diapers at the time!), sucking out our snots when we were babies (yes, no joke on that. He felt bad that we couldn’t breath with all that snots. And no, we didn’t have those suction thingy they give away at U.S hospitals), and cutting our hairs (to my Mom’s horror), and taking us places.
One of my favorite memories of my Dad was when he took all four of us (at the time) on his little Vespa to eat ice cream (there was/is no seatbelt law in Viet Nam people).
Things changed drastically with the fall of Saigon in 1975 when the Communists took over Viet Nam. We lived in fear, our futures were uncertain to say the least.
My Dad served in the U.S. Intelligence group before 1975. Luckily, with the help of many good people, including his father-in-law (may he rest in peace), my Dad became a farmer to avoid imprisonment at one of their “reeducation camps” as the Communists “called” it.
Having five children and a wife under his care, my Dad adapted and assimilated to whatever the circumstances surrounding us at the time. And in those tumultuous times, we felt safe knowing that Dad will always be there protecting us in any situations, like a lion protecting its cubs.
We eventually escaped the Communist regime in 1980 in search of freedom and landed in America (more on our journey in later post). What my Dad taught me and my siblings is that…in life, you need to adapt and assimilate to any situations no matter how hard and tough the road might be and to always be punctual!
As Father’s Day approaches, I want to wish my Dad a healthy, and a blissful life surrounded by all his loved ones. We still have so much to learn from you, and more of those royalty stories which I love to hear over and over again.
We love you with all our hearts! It’s something you don’t often hear, but nonetheless understood.
When we were growing up, my Dad would always tell us that we were part royalty because of our last name. That’s right, you can call me Princess from now on. We thought it was just a nice bed time story that he’d made up for his five subjects, that’s three of his princesses and two princes.
As I entered into adulthood, I often heard from other sources that our ancestors once roamed the court where the Kings and Queen lived (we’re talking about eons ago when Kings and Queens ruled Viet Nam). That is all I know of my family history, I wished I knew more.
Although my Dad came from the older generation where fathers’ involvement in child rearing is nonexistent (it’s the women’s responsibilities to tend to the children’s affairs). He was an atypical Dad where he didn’t mind taking care of us, giving us baths, washing our diapers (no disposable diapers at the time!), sucking out our snots when we were babies (yes, no joke on that. He felt bad that we couldn’t breath with all that snots. And no, we didn’t have those suction thingy they give away at U.S hospitals), and cutting our hairs (to my Mom’s horror), and taking us places.
One of my favorite memories of my Dad was when he took all four of us (at the time) on his little Vespa to eat ice cream (there was/is no seatbelt law in Viet Nam people).
Things changed drastically with the fall of Saigon in 1975 when the Communists took over Viet Nam. We lived in fear, our futures were uncertain to say the least.
My Dad served in the U.S. Intelligence group before 1975. Luckily, with the help of many good people, including his father-in-law (may he rest in peace), my Dad became a farmer to avoid imprisonment at one of their “reeducation camps” as the Communists “called” it.
Having five children and a wife under his care, my Dad adapted and assimilated to whatever the circumstances surrounding us at the time. And in those tumultuous times, we felt safe knowing that Dad will always be there protecting us in any situations, like a lion protecting its cubs.
We eventually escaped the Communist regime in 1980 in search of freedom and landed in America (more on our journey in later post). What my Dad taught me and my siblings is that…in life, you need to adapt and assimilate to any situations no matter how hard and tough the road might be and to always be punctual!
As Father’s Day approaches, I want to wish my Dad a healthy, and a blissful life surrounded by all his loved ones. We still have so much to learn from you, and more of those royalty stories which I love to hear over and over again.
We love you with all our hearts! It’s something you don’t often hear, but nonetheless understood.
What a lovely post, Waya. It’s always interesting to hear about what our parents did a long time ago, right? And I think you should be with him more. Or if you can’t, maybe you can say hello by phone or stop by to his house often if you don’t live with him. Cause when he’s not around anymore, I don’t want you to feel sorry for not giving the love and care that he deserves to have.
Thank you for your comment on my blog entry (My Dearly-Departed Dad, too, dear.
Oh, I miss my Dad so much…
A lovely tribute to your dad.
Thanks for dropping by!
LBC
You’re right about giving all our love to our Dad while he’s still around Aurora.
Fortunately we are a very close-knit family, and all five of us siblings live in one state and not too far from our parents. And we have a get together with everyone (that’s 20 of us, including nieces and nephews!!) almost every Sunday.
Sorry about your Dad! And thanks for visiting my blog.
Sweet post. It’s always a good thing when you can honestly say how much you love your dad.
Thanks for stopping by my blog.
I absolutely love reading your post today. I am not a native to North America myself, we came here as immigrants when I was 13 so I think we have a lot in common.
Very nice post about your dad too.
I have two sisters and two brothers too. Isn’t having a large family great?
Wow. That was a really nice tribute to your dad. I would be interested to hear more about your immigration story.
Thanks for visiting my blog earlier.
What a touching and fascinating post. You and your father have shared an interesting life. I look forward to hearing more.
i started blogging in january too! tell your sis i LOVE the name. ha! so sister-ish of her to come up with it.
nice to meet you, princess!
Your dad sounds like a wonderful man!
I miss my dad very much, and today has just been really hard for me and my brothers.
Thanks for stopping by my site. I love your blog!
Thanks Kelly for the comment. I’m not in any position to tell you that “I know how you feel”. I just hope that time will bring joy and peace to you and your brothers as you look back at all the great memories you had with your Dad.
This was a beautiful post. Your dad sounds like a wonderful man.
My husband and I adopted two children from VietNam. I loved being there. It was always so fun to watch families pile up on motorbikes. There are so many interesting and amazing things about VietNam. I miss it!
Hi, just read your post. Your Dad sounds like a great guy too. Your family has had greater hardships to go through than my “lucky” American-born one, but the feelings are the same, aren’t they?
Thanks for sending me this link.