Family

I would like to share some thoughts about my father. He is the one person for me who has my deepest respect.

My father was a great influence in my life. I have learned lots of things from him since my childhood. He taught us how to keep discipline, how to behave with other persons and how to help others.

My father was the breadwinner in our family. His job was a government officer, and his small salary was all we had to manage on. My mother was a housewife, and my parents had 5 children. We had to study in school, and of course we didn’t have any loan facilities or OSAP like in Canada. We had to pay our own money for our studies. My father encouraged and focused on our studies and always told us to study hard, so you can stand on your own in the future. I have always remembered his words in my life.

My father worked in another province from the one we lived in. He left every Monday morning and returned back on Friday evening. We could spend only the week ends with him. We enjoyed that time very much, he took us to the park, the beach or maybe a movie theatre. Every Friday we were waiting eagerly for our father’s return. Sometimes, he could not come home, because he had to work overtime to stretch his small salary to earn more money. In those times, we did not have the technological facilities that we do today. We had to communicate through letters. He wrote a letter to inform to my mother when that happened, and we were always really disappointed without our father. My mother advised us to be calm and try to not think about it.

My father lived in the other province 5 days a week, and he felt lonely. He did not eat proper food, and he struggled over there. He always thought about our family and how he could improve the situation. So, he did not think about himself and lived alone for long time. He was a very good man. In our childhood, we missed him a lot.

Also, when we celebrated our cultural festivals, he bought clothes, shoes, sweets etc. but for us only, he never bought anything for himself. We did not have sufficient knowledge or wisdom to see at that time, but when we got to our teenage years, we understood our father’s sacrifices.

He checked our school progress reports every time, and if we got a good rank, he gave us some small gift and if the opposite happened, he definitely gave a punishment too. Of course, we all grew up, finished our school, got jobs and we started to earn money to support our families. Finally, he retired and stayed with us.

We all got married, one by one, and settled abroad with our families, but my father and mother stayed in my home country alone. We all went to look after them from time to time and they were very happy and still in love with each other. After retirement, he loved his life. We brought him to places he had always wanted to go and did anything he wanted.

Unfortunately, my father passed away this year. Oh my God, it was so hard. We couldn’t attend his funeral during the COVID pandemic. And we were so worried about our mother. We were very sad we couldn’t at least see his face one last time. We prayed his soul rest in peace.

My father was a special man and an inspiration for me. My father was a confident and daring person. We, the children, always followed his path. I have always loved him for his dedication to our family. I respect my father and though I have struggled lot in Canada; I will never forget my father’s advice and support. That’s why I can still manage everything by myself. My father is a most special person and the person I respect most in this world.