My dad was a typical Chinese language father – hard-working, quiet, and stoic. He by no means mentioned “I really like you” and barely gave us a hug or a kiss.
My siblings and I grew up witnessing how laborious dad labored. Regardless of his impassive exterior, we knew he liked his spouse and kids with all of his coronary heart.
Each time we had an entire fish or an entire hen for dinner, which was typically, dad would meticulously take away the bones and skins and put the meat on all our plates earlier than he began consuming.
He would stand up early to attend in line on the most well-known natural store in Chinatown to get the most effective herbs and ginseng to spice up our well being.
He would keep up late after lengthy hours of labor to iron our uniforms for the subsequent college day. My mother would inform him the uniforms had already been pressed, however he would nonetheless do it with a smile on his face.
My dad handed away virtually three years in the past. My younger daughter has some reminiscence of him. At some point at dinner, she remarked that she didn’t recall Ah Gong (grandpa) ever saying a lot.
“It’s true,” I informed her, “he didn’t have a lot use for phrases.”
She squinted a bit and requested, “how did he say I really like you?”
I handpicked the bones off the rotisserie hen and put an exquisite piece of breast meat on her plate. I checked out my daughter and smiled.
And she or he knew.