My New Year’s resolution this year was to start a blog and write a post everyday for a year. There have been several times in the past 6 months when I questioned whether it was worth it, but like many things, it feels easier to finish once you reach the halfway point. “That wasn’t so …
Monthly Archives: June 2020
Part owl
My 4-year-old son saw a video of how a great horned owl could turn its head an astonishing, superhuman 270º. Then my son turned his head on his neck about 180º and said to me, “Look, I can do part of that.” That seems like a better thing to say than, “I can’t do that.” …
Think of others
One time we were all in the car with my grandparents driving and for some reason they stopped in the middle of the road. A few seconds passed and then all at the same time, my mother, my sister, and I all turned around to see if we were blocking a car behind us, who …
Things I l Learned from My Father (#7): Don’t be racist
The most important things I learned from my father I probably didn’t even notice. My father never told me, “Don’t be racist,” but he taught that to me because I always saw him treat everyone with the same respect regardless of their race. He taught me that you can be proudly Chinese and friends with …
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Things I l Learned from My Father (#6): Root for the underdog
My father has always liked to root for the underdog. He went to Creighton, a small college in Omaha, Nebraska, and regularly travels by car or even airplane to support his Jays. Sometimes they succeed in sports and sometimes they don’t. They are often matched up against bigger schools with more money and bigger athletic …
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Things I l Learned from My Father (#5): Work isn’t everything
My father was good at his job but he didn’t particularly enjoy it. He would rather spend time with family than time at work. When we were little, he had to work the night shift and he would record audio tapes for us of him reading stories to us. We listened to them before we …
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Things I l Learned from My Father (#4): Have a wide range of ‘good enough’
My father is perfectly happy eating bologna sandwiches. Or bread and butter. Or fast food for his Father’s Day meal. Or cake without icing. He has a wide range of ‘good enough’. He still appreciates cake with icing and a steak instead of a hamburger but he’s perfectly happy keeping things simple. It’s a good …
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Things I l Learned from My Father (#3): Consider the worst-case scenario
My father has been known to be a bit of a worrier. His best friend said to him once, “You know, you should have been born a bump on a log, then you would have nothing to worry about,” and I think my dad kind of liked that idea actually. He thinks about this constantly: …
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Things I l Learned from My Father (#2): Take care of your family
I grew up watching my father take care of his family. He always walked arm in arm with his 100 year old grandmother so she made it safely across the street and now he visits his mother, who is now 100 years old, very regularly to check in on her and try to lift her …
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Things I l Learned from My Father (#1): Be nice
If I said one thing about my father, or if there were only one thing that you knew about my father, it would be that he’s a nice guy. He’s the friendly guy in the elevator who strikes up a conversation with you and leaves you feeling good about the clothes that you picked out …
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