09/01/2026
Dear Dad,
It’s the ’80s.
Our dial TV plays the local news during the day and cartoons on the weekends. I watch for you coming home from work through the living room window, knowing you’ll have a Cherry Blossom treat or a handful of two-cent candies tucked into your pocket from the convenience corner store.
We didn’t have much. Truthfully, we had very little. But the suppers we shared together as a family, followed by us kids running outside on summer nights that seemed to never end, made me feel like we had everything.
Our family legacy, and the success I’ve found in this world, was built on the sacrifices you and Mom made and on the backs of your hard work. You left behind everything you knew to raise us kids and give us the best life you could in a new country, facing language barriers, cultural differences, and hardships that I’m sure we didn’t fully understand as children.
Despite limited income and difficult times, you and Mom taught us kindness. You taught us to work hard, to be good to people, and to strive for success.
One of my all-time favourite memories is also one of the simplest: our early mornings running errands together. You with your coffee, and me beside you with my thermos of hot creamer, hand in hand as we went out to conquer the day.
And if we had time, we’d end our errands by feeding the ducks.
That memory means more to me than I could ever explain.
If you’re reading this, please raise a cup of coffee to my father — the man who gave me my eye colour and my loud laugh. The man who quietly worked, sacrificed, provided, and loved us in all the ways that mattered most.
On August 17, 2026, the world lost a quiet, hardworking legend. A fighter to the end.
Dad, save me a seat by the duck pond.
Until then, thank you.
I miss you.
I love you.
Dao
