The value of FAMILY!

This is actually the first post on my blog and i'm going to share something i value in my life. beware its long but meaningful!

Yesterday (June 29, 2009) my friend planned a surprised birthday bbq party at her place. it was actually a shocker for me. i actually thought i was going in for a staff meeting but my co-workers fooled me. they're great! anyhow, while i was there i saw something that bought back some memories: some deep memories! memories of my father!

for readers that are viewing this, my father passed away when i was young (when i was about 4 years old) and it took me awhile to adjust to life without a father. when i was at my surprised birthday party, i saw something that i wish i have while i was growing up: a family! i'm not trying to say that i don't have one, i actually do but when one thinks about family they think of what i think of. a family is compose of a mother, a father and some siblings. in my family, its compose of a mother, my younger brother and me. its not a typical family in what people will think of. my father been left out in a lot of family's celebration ever since his passing.

while growing up, i hated father's day and it wasn't because i was angry at my father for leaving this world so early in my life, but rather, i didn't have a father to spend it with like my other fellow friends and classmates. every year in school till i was in junior high school, my teachers will ask us to make father's day card for our father and to be honest i HATED it. i had no idea who to make out the card to. i will sit there while i watch my classmate doodle away, decorating their card with elaborate writing, embellish with creative pictures, while i sat there with an empty paper. and we all know that in school, every assignments that is given by the teacher must be finish or else one is punish for unfinished work. so usually after a certain amount of time...i just draw something random with a simple letter to my father. but as years gone by doing this, i realized how pointless a card can get. making cards is something so repetitive that after a certain amount of time, it loses its value and meaning. knowing chinese parents, how many of chinese parents actually keep them? usually after a certain amount of days, months or even years they will throw it away. if a card isn't meaningful, then what is really more meaningful for your parents? i will say time spend with them.

about 2 weeks ago, it was father's day and this father's day was different in comparison to the many father's day i grew up in. this year father's day, i spend it in china with my family. this time i felt what it feels like to spend father's day with family! even though i celebrated father's day with my uncles, i still felt what it feels like to have family all gather together: consuming foods, joking and sharing thoughts. this is why i value family time. as i gotten older, i realized how less i spend it with my family. with work and school, its hard to find time to spend it with my mom and younger brother. with our busy schedule, its hard to fit a time when all of us can gather together, joke and share. majority of the time when we're eating dinner, we chat for a short a period of time, eat and then back to what we have to finish before we head to bed. now, i appreciate these special holidays set aside specially to celebrate two important people in your lives: your mother and father! even though when i was younger, i hated father's day because i didn't have a father to celebrate it with like other people but as i grew up, i grew an appreciation for these holidays. its holiday like these where the whole family gathers together to reminisce about the past, joke and share with one another. this is the reason why i love family's gathering! I LOVE FAMILY'S GATHERING!!!

even though i'm not a mother, but at this age i know your parents will love to spend time with you. after losing a family member (like me) you will realize how old they gotten and when that day comes: when they will have to leave this world, you might regret how little amount of time you spend with them. when its too late, all you have is to reminisce about the past, just like how i reminisce about my father every time i think about my father. sorry for being too harsh! one should value family time that you have with one another before its too late. sometime i wish i can have a father here to celebrate father's day with like everybody else i know but then again i do not have this kind of privilege. value the time spend with family because all in all when things goes bad or wrong you will ALWAYS HAVE YOUR FAMILY'S SUPPORT!!!