Celebrating My Wonderful Papa

        My dad turns 77 tomorrow (4 July). Besides giving him a dinner treat, it would also be fitting to thank him for all that he is, and has done for me.

#1 Thank you, Papa, for being a masterful storyteller.

        I can never get tired of listening to his stories of his childhood in Tronoh, the heart-pounding moments of living under the Japanese Occupation, his boarding school days in ACS Ipoh, the wonderful years in the United Kingdom and his teaching experiences in various Johor schools. Back in those days of the 70s and 80s, power outage episodes were fairly frequent. To soothe his fidgety daughter, Papa would regale her with his stories whilst fanning her all the time.

#2 Thank you, Papa, for instilling a sense of humour in me.

        Although Papa faithfully reads the newspaper from front to back and the books on his shelves revolve around politics and politicians (I always associate newspapers and politics with being serious and dull),  Papa has a great sense of humour. He is usually the life and soul of the party. We love to poke fun at each other. Most importantly, he has taught me that it is imperative to live life with humour. He has also reminded me not to be overly sensitive and regard jokes directed at us as personal ammunition. Could this be his secret to his youthful looks?

#3 Thank you, Papa, for supporting me financially.

        Despite not having deep pockets, my dad has always been (and still is) generous with his money. When growing up, he was my automated teller machine. When living off the government’s bursary in the United Kingdom, Papa made it known that I never needed to worry should funds run low. He did not want me to take up part-time jobs to supplement my allowance as he feared that it would be detrimental to my studies. I, on the other hand, did not want to be the parasite scrounging off my dad. We compromised, and I worked at a Chinese takeaway for only one day of the week so that I could save up for a holiday in Europe. For my graduation, Papa bought me my first car with his gratuity money. And up to this day, I am still the recipient of generous angpows for special occasions.

#4 Thank you, Papa, for forcing me to be independent.

        Leaving home at 18 for further studies in Kuala Lumpur, this pampered only child, who had led a rather sheltered life, suffered terribly from homesickness. If I had had a free rein to things, I would gladly have made the four-hour journey back to Ipoh every single weekend (this was before the North South Highway was completed). But Papa put his foot down, insisted that I needed to learn to pull away from the strings of attachment, and only allowed me to go home once a fortnight. Oh, the weekends that I was not permitted to go home were indeed torturous! Fortunately, my cousin Pek Yim very often took me back to her Taman Seputeh home to stay and treated me as if I was her own sister. Now on hindsight, I am indebted to my dad for imposing independence on me. It made my subsequent years of living in the United Kingdom and Sabah so much easier.

#5 Thank you, Papa, for being my walking encyclopaedia.

        Long before Google reigned supreme in our lives, I could count on my dad to provide an answer to anything under the sun. Papa is THAT knowledgeable. He is a mine of information on everything from aerodynamics right up to zoology, I kid you not. The only snag is Papa can give Wikipedia a run for its money in terms of lengthy explanations.

#6 Thank you, Papa, for being my Mr. Fix-It-All.

        Having an uncle who worked as a carpenter, my dad’s a whiz at carpentry. However, his skills do not end there. He believes in giving things a second chance to work so in our house, things are not easily discarded but are instead, given a new lease of life after some tinkering. His “works of art” include the unsightly yet extremely practical hooks around my car. Hoarding knick knacks is the downside of him being adept at fixing things because he is in the opinion that we do not know when we need this or that so it is prudent to just keep them. Halfway walking on the pavement one recent morning, Papa kept stopping to pick up some round metal pieces left lying around after some renovation work. He thought those might come in handy one day and his daughter had to dutifully help him to pick them up.

#7 Thank you, Papa, for being my safety net.

        Who do I call when I have car trouble? Papa. Who do I depend on to set a trap for the rat? Papa. (By the way, just in case hubby feels left out : who do I depend on to exterminate the rat in the trap? Hubby.) Who do I count on to remind me of fixed deposits, insurance policies, income tax filing, road tax and other miscellaneous items that are due for renewal or submission? Papa. Who do I entrust my financial planning to? Papa.

#8 Thank you, Papa, for teaching me to give people the benefit of the doubt.

        It is much easier to judge and condemn. But my dad has always urged me to put myself in that person’s position and assess to see if I would have acted otherwise. He has advised me not to be so hasty in shooting down new ideas but to give them a try. When I think someone has done something out of order, I let it pass as I remember Papa telling me that I could have misinterpreted the whole scenario. From my dad, I have learned that it takes a wise person to try and understand someone’s situation after being hurt by that someone.

#9 Thank you, Papa, for passing on to me your genes of meticulous planning, good sense of direction and ability to not misplace things.

        I am sure genetic predisposition has nothing to do with these strengths. I suspect my meticulous planning, good sense of direction and ability to not misplace things are all due to good training from young plus learning from Papa’s example. But I strongly believe that I have Papa to thank for all these. I get things done well, meet deadlines without any problems, enjoy self-drive holidays with hubby without hitches, weave around residential areas using shortcuts, find our car easily in an unfamiliar and enormous car park, can rush out of the house in less than 3 minutes because I know exactly where to grab my things and never have to turn the house upside down to search for my keys or wallet.

#10 Thank you, Papa, for never putting pressure on me to excel, and yet you are one of my biggest fans.

        As my dad was a teacher, one would have expected him to pressurize me into excelling academically. But no, Papa believes that a child should be allowed to develop at his or her own pace. He never required me to be in the top three, but allowed me to enjoy my school life at my leisure. He never dictated that I pursue a career in medicine or engineering, but left it to me to chart my own path. And yet, Papa has proudly kept all my school report cards, attended every prize-giving ceremony, carefully cut and kept every single article that was published in the newspaper and still holds my university degree under lock and key.

So to my darling Papa, thank you for all these reasons and more. I love you very much, today and always. Happy birthday, Papa!