Thankful
Thanksgiving is a time
of gratitude, a time of appreciation. This is what I’m thankful for: Quyen, my
wife of 15 years. She is my foundation, my best friend, the reason I get up in
the morning, the person I hold lovingly in my arms at night. She is the mother
of my children and the person I cherish with all my being. In an uncertain
universe, she is my light.
Kevin,
my twelve-year-old son. When I was growing up, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be a
parent. No, I was certain I didn’t want
to be a father because I was afraid of the responsibility. Being a parent is
the single most important job anyone can ever hold, and I didn’t want to screw
it up, so I told myself I wouldn’t take it on. Safer that way. Quyen believed
in me when all I had was doubt and fear. She knew I would be a good dad, and
that was enough for me. Now, when I gaze upon my son, I am filled with a sense
of wonder. The world isn’t such a scary place. No, in fact, it’s a place of
joy, of braces that need to be fitted, fantasy books yet to be read, Minecraft to
be played, miles to be jogged in an afterschool running club, and a future of
hope and bonding between father and son.
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| picture by Cliff from Arlington, VA |
Kristie,
my nine-year-old daughter. Quyen and I named our little girl after figure
skater Kristi Yamaguchi because of the Olympic athlete’s artistry on the ice.
Kristie personifies her mother’s grace in that she knows what to say and do in
any given situation. She knows how to make people comfortable, and everyone
trusts her. Kristie is the embodiment of all that’s good and precious in the
world, and I am so very blessed to be her father.
Work:
Sigmund Freud—“Two hallmarks of a healthy life are the abilities to love and to
work. Each requires imagination.” In working at a college, sometimes I face
bureaucracy and politics that tarnish the real purpose of why we’re here. Every
day at San Diego City College, I get to help students who are striving for
something better in their lives, and they’re doing it through education and
learning. That's what we're really about.
Books
and writing: there is a beauty and power in words. They can convey so much when
a story comes from a place of purity, of soul and spirit. When words ring true
and connect to the fabric of our being, it is something miraculous and awe
inspiring. Thank you to Jeannette Walls for the The Glass Castle, for teaching
me that a child can persevere and forgive in the face of the most desperate
circumstances. Thank you to Antoine De Saint-Exupery for The Little Prince who
learned to see with his heart. Thank you to Cormac McCarthy for The Road, a
post-apocalyptic world of darkness and despair that opens a window to life and
humanity. Thank you to all the writers who struggle to compose sentences in
the hope of giving us a glimmer of truth.
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