fat worms are delightful creatures

dear dad,
so you might not love this public letter-writing thing that I'm doing (don't worry, not that many people read this blog), but the reason I am publishing this online is because I want to encourage others to do something...which they'll find out about at the end of this entry.

this all started when I was digging through your mail - sorting out various house-related affairs - and I found a stack of old letters chocolate ball and I wrote you when we were younger. you were still working in hong kong at the time, and we were living in montreal. although I vaguely remember writing you, the memory of these letters didn't hit me until I physically touched them yesterday. being a huge marshmallow, and a nostalgic one at that, I obviously read through them all.

I sent you compositions about how I was marie curie's #1 fan (yes, those exact words...you remember my chemistry phase right?) and I wrote an entire mini-series in english based on the ever popular TVB series 刑事偵緝檔案. Of course, chocolate ball was an evil villain and I was the brilliant crime-stopping detective.

I laughed (yes, even out loud) and shook my head many a time while reading most of the letters...but a particular one just made me cry. I told you how much I missed you; how much our family felt incomplete without you in montreal, and asked for you to come home as soon as you could. I was struck by my own decade-old words...mostly because I realized how much I loved you at the time. That doesn't mean I don't love you now - of course I do - but it's a different kind of love. As an adult, I've grown to know you as a human being - weaknesses and all. You are no longer my superhero dad on a pedestal - and I'm so thankful to be able to know you in a very real (sometimes too real) way.

Reading those letters reminded me what a privilege it is to be your daughter - to have loved you for your superhero-like status as a child, and to love you for the loyal and kind friend that you are now, in my adulthood. through all this time, you have been my father - a father who has stood by me despite all my iniquities - and for that I thank you with my whole heart. I love you, Dad.

And for those reading this, here's your assignment - take some time to think about how your relationship with your dad has grown over the years... and maybe like me, you might want to tell him you love him too. :)