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It is father's day. Father's Day usually has been celebrated in lesser scale than Mother's Day. But father role is as important.

My father was a hawker. He was selling clothes in the wet market and also night market for over 30 years. With his sole income, he needed to feed himself, my mother, my grandmother, and six children. He didn't earn a lot, that's why he needed to work very hard. He cycled to wet market in the morning and night market during evening time in his trishaw with six boxes of clothes and metal stands and a few planks. Sometimes, he had to cycle up to 8km per trip.

When I was young, I seldom talk to my father due to he needs to work from 7am to 12+ noon, then 630pm till 11+pm. That time I remember he was a strict person. With so many people depends on his income, I think he hardly had time to relax.

Nonetheless, he showed us great love. I remembered the first gift they bought for me when I was a kid. I was asleep that time, at night. Father and mother came home from night market. They bought me a teddy bear soft toy. It wasn't soft actually, not like those now. But I loved it!
I kept it for a few years before I was too old for it.

When I was older, I remembered another gift from him. A jigsaw puzzle, 24 pieces, if I remembered correctly. It was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle jigsaw puzzle. I kept playing and playing. I didn't know someone was observing, my father. He noticed that I liked it, so he bought another one for me. I didn't play these two for long though.

Although he didn't earn a lot, he and mother always reward us if we did well in our school exam. Every year, if my brother and I did well in our school exam, they will buy us whatever gift we want. Instead of spending the money on themselves, they will keep the money and buy the gift for us. He never celebrated his birthday, father's day, in fact, I know he worked almost everyday, unless he was sick.

My father seldom scold me. But I remembered he raised his voice on two occasions.

First occasion when I was in primary 6. I was invited as a school leaver representative to give a thank you speech in one of the scholarship award ceremony. I scared of public speaking and shy. I asked my father to reject them. My father advised me to try and tried to give me confident, but I was very stubborn and persistence. My father finally fed up and asked me to call the organizer myself if I didn't want to give the speech.

I gave in finally, and the speech went smoothly, not as bad as I thought of.

Second occasion when I was in university. I was back home for summer break. During that time, long hair and dye hair were popular. I said that I wanted to keep long hair and dyed my hair dark blue. As a conservative father, he objected and advised me not to. Not sure why, I dismissed him and said he is outdated and old-fashioned. I think he was quite sad, and replied "yeah, you are the smartest".

I didn't keep long hair nor dye my hair.

As time goes, my father got older. I started to understand the sacrifices of father are as great as mother. As his youngest son, I graduated from university, he also retired from working hard. He enjoyed his work, but age has catch up on him.

He passed away after just retired for 10 years. It is kind of sad that he didn't have much chance to enjoy as his kids are all grown up and independent.

It was also sad that most of his sons were working overseas and not with him when he moved on. I was also quite regret that I failed to notice my father was getting old that time. In fact, the last sentence he told me was "I am old, I won't have much time, I don't need another surgery to remove cataract."

So, do remember to take this chance, Father's Day, to celebrate with him and cherish every moment with him.

A tribute to all fathers....