He Reminds Me of My Father I Never Knew
He reminds me of my Father I never knew
“At the time of his death, my father remained a myth to me”, were the very first thoughts Barack Obama felt after trying to measure his loss. Similarly, those feelings he’d felt then were the exact same feelings I felt when a stranger called me to give me the news back in early May of 2005. The day started with the bird chirping, the dog barking at the meowing cat, the stridulation of crickets at my ears, and the smell of fresh cut grass in the early morning sunrise of one beautiful Spring day. It was May 15th, of 2005 that a stranger called to tell me the news I never expected. I will not forget that day; as I was lying in bed thinking how excited I am to start my day. I remembered holding up a diamond engagement ring to the ceiling and whispered to myself, “I hope she says yes”. I made plans to propose to my wife who then was my girlfriend. I have been putting my college education and all my goals aside so that I can work two jobs to pay for the stone and possibly a wedding. In my (Cambodian) tradition, a man has to make sacrifices and provide everything to show he is worthy and true to a woman if he wants to marry her. It had been a long journey and hard work to get to where I was; bought a diamond ring and ready to propose. At approximately eight-twenty seven a.m., when the phone in my apartment started to ring; it was my distant cousin on the other end telling me that my dad had passed. The news came to me as a shocked as I did not know how to react; like Barack I never knew my father. My father was a mystery person because he left me when I was two years old. I only knew him through stories my mom told me and others who knew him.
One of the stories I remembered was how my dad left us. My mom told me that education was important to him and that he was trying to pursue his medical degree. Because of the war, my father had fled Cambodia and separated from his family to a refugee camp in Thailand not
“At the time of his death, my father remained a myth to me”, were the very first thoughts Barack Obama felt after trying to measure his loss. Similarly, those feelings he’d felt then were the exact same feelings I felt when a stranger called me to give me the news back in early May of 2005. The day started with the bird chirping, the dog barking at the meowing cat, the stridulation of crickets at my ears, and the smell of fresh cut grass in the early morning sunrise of one beautiful Spring day. It was May 15th, of 2005 that a stranger called to tell me the news I never expected. I will not forget that day; as I was lying in bed thinking how excited I am to start my day. I remembered holding up a diamond engagement ring to the ceiling and whispered to myself, “I hope she says yes”. I made plans to propose to my wife who then was my girlfriend. I have been putting my college education and all my goals aside so that I can work two jobs to pay for the stone and possibly a wedding. In my (Cambodian) tradition, a man has to make sacrifices and provide everything to show he is worthy and true to a woman if he wants to marry her. It had been a long journey and hard work to get to where I was; bought a diamond ring and ready to propose. At approximately eight-twenty seven a.m., when the phone in my apartment started to ring; it was my distant cousin on the other end telling me that my dad had passed. The news came to me as a shocked as I did not know how to react; like Barack I never knew my father. My father was a mystery person because he left me when I was two years old. I only knew him through stories my mom told me and others who knew him.
One of the stories I remembered was how my dad left us. My mom told me that education was important to him and that he was trying to pursue his medical degree. Because of the war, my father had fled Cambodia and separated from his family to a refugee camp in Thailand not