Father that I can’t remember

Sometimes when I see children being dotted by their grandfathers, I feel a pang of emptiness. I never know what it is like to be loved and dotted by a father. My father died when I was very small.

All I remember about my father was:
1) He rode a Raleigh bicycle to school;
2) He was famous for being a very fierce teacher with strict discipline;
3) He was respected by the whole kampung;
4) He would buy steam egg cakes on pay days;
5) He was in the hospital most of the time;
6) He would have been faceless, if not for the single photo I had of him.

However, I know that even in that short 6-7 years (even less if you count those years that I was too young to know anything and those few years he was hospitalised and bed-ridden), I had somehow inherit some of his characteristics.

I survived a childhood without a father figure. For e.g., when I was in Std. Five, I went up to the headmaster and demanded that I get a place in a better secondary school in town. When I was in Form Three, I again went up to the headmaster and insisted that I do not want to go to Science Stream. Throughout my school and adult years, I was the one who pushed for what I wanted or aspired.

I am sure only my father could have given me that kind of courageous, strong-willed, principled characteristics.

Now that I am 40, I realiased that though I never had a father physically, those good points from him must have flowed in me. There is also a greater father beside my father. That is God, our Father.

To all the children (young and old) out there, appreciate your father. Count your blessings and build up the relationship.

To all the fathers out there, Happy Father’s Day.

For the new moms with small children, here is a website with ideas on what your can child to do for that man in your life.