Father’s Day
How was your Father’s Day?
You may or may not know, but I live far away from my parents. I moved to the U.S. from Japan about 10 years ago, so I don’t get to see them very often.
As I get older, I miss them more and more. I feel like I’m so backwards haha. What I’m trying to say is that I appreciate them more and more. They’re getting older, so sometimes I worry, what if something happens? What if I can’t be there for them? They’ve done so much for me.
This past Saturday (it was Sunday for them because they’re ahead), my family and I facetimed. I wanted to send him something, but I never really know what he wants, so I just told him “Happy Father’s day! Thank you always.”
He just laughed and told me “Okay, okay.”
He’s never really been like the affectionate type. He’s never really been a materialistic person. He’s never really been a great communicator (he is such a goofball though). Whenever I ask him, “what do you want for your birthday?” He would say, “I don’t know… nothing!”
He doesn’t really express his feelings, either. Or I guess he doesn’t really express them with words. He’s always been the type to show his gratitude, care, and all kinds of feeling with his attitude or actions.
It’s not always great like he can be VERY annoying, but I really admire his way to approach life.
One thing I notice, he is a person that truly practices Happiness. Martin Seligman says that what happiness consists of three elements: the pleasant life (pleasure), the good life (engagement), and the meaningful life (meanings). It turns out, pleasure does not have a significant contribution, but engagement and meanings play such important roles when it comes to happiness.
When I think about my dad, he really practices these two things (engagement and meanings) so naturally.
He works not just because he needs to support the family, but also because he genuinely finds it interesting.
He’s so knowledgeable because he loves learning new things.
He says mom’s cooking is the best because mom cooked that meal (she’s amazing at cooking, but I wouldn’t say she’s the best you know? There are so many great chefs out there lol).
He always pushes us (me and my sister) to do what we want to do because us doing things we love truly makes him happy and be proud like he finds that meaningful.
He loves video games and I think the part of the reason why he plays is because he can relate to my sister.
Whenever he buys something for himself, he buys them because he’s just interested to see how it works. I guess he’s more into the whole process than the action of buying something if that makes sense.
He loves talking about us (me, my sister, and my mom) more than talking about himself.
The list can go on.
He does love trading stocks and playing games, and I guess I could say those are his hobbies, but what truly makes him happy is not pleasure, but something like stimulating conversations, our success, our happiness, doing something together as a family, etc.
Whatever I’m doing for myself right now is enough for him. I’m working hard to get to where I want to get to, and that brings him joy. I talk to him once in a while and that’s enough because he knows that I care about him.
As I get older, I admire him more and more. I feel thankful for him more and more. I love him more and more.
I always thought of him as a childish and silly dad, but now, I wanna be more like him. Or I guess, I wanna have that same approach to my life.
I hope I can give back in a way that brings him true happiness.
I hope he knows how much I appreciate him.
I already said it on Saturday, but I’ll say it again (publicly lol).
Thank you dad❤️
And thank you to all the dads out there!
And also to everyone who doesn’t have a dad, I see you and I love you.
All my love,
Kaori