Translated…
“I just turned seven, please come to my birthday party. Date: Saturday, April 9th, Place: the Arts University.”, the invitation was partially written with the Chinese phonetic spellings, partially in Chinese characters, with her own self-portrait, with a cake with the number “7”, and, all the families that received an invitation had, all shown up for the occasion.
I was the one that the only one, who was invited by the dad, who was having a birthday. When everybody gathered, she was really courteous, greeted us one by one; when our eyes met, she’d also, called my name out accurately.
With the Smaller Hand in the Larger
The first time we met was at their place, back then, the girl was only two. The moment I’d entered through the door, she’d bowed slightly, “Dad, you’d worked really hard.” I was shocked, and, Sheng-Hong immediately explained it to me, “She’d become better behaved lately, all because of the cartoon character, Tiger”
The daughter was outgoing and active, after the meals, she’d played a game of catch with her dad, and, the ball accidentally slipped from his hands, she’d brought it back, mumbling, “Because daddy can’t see!”
Seng-Hong Yang is the secretary-general of the Technological Development for the Handicapped, my partner in work, I’d needed to interview him once every two months, talked to him on the subject of the rules and regulations for the handicapped, and the focal discussion topics, he’d spoken, very steadily, very slow and unhurried; and still, before his own daughter, he’d become, animated, and could change his voice into a duck’s, a tiger’s, as well as a robot’s too, making his own daughter laugh aloud.
From age two to age seven, his daughter is all grown up now. The Arts University was located up a mountain, she’d held onto her dad’s hand, and reminded him constantly, “there’s a step!”, and, she’d taken a step downward, and waited until her dad stepped down too, then, started introducing the environment to him, “This, is a huge grass patch that is right before us………”, we were very lucky, to find a space with the stone chairs and table, in the gentle breezes, enjoyed the fruit tart that Seng-Hong and his family had prepared.
from the papers…
This type of family gatherings usually happen as the adults would sit and carry on in conversation, while the children playing around. The different thing about this particular meeting was, as the young girl played her games, she’d run toward her father, to tell him, “Dad, I’m jumping ropes right now!”, “Dad, I’m blowing out the bubbles now!”, and the colorful bubbles floated in midair, surrounded her, but, when she’d poked at them, they’d made a popping sound, and, vanished, “dad look, the bubbles are disappearing now.”
Seng-Hong told me, that at home, they’d played a lot of games also.
One day, his daughter didn’t feel like brushing her teeth, and he’d lowered his voices and spoke, “A certain child doesn’t want to brush her teeth, and, there would be scary germs that comes biting her down! Starting, to chew on you………”, the daughter seemed scared, and, Seng-Hong took advantage, “Do you want to race, to see who gets the teeth brushed first?”, and, she’d run, a hell of a faster than her dad had.
The daughter had her “rebellious” stage during her coming of age too, and, he’d still used games to teach her. They have two dolls at home, the daughter had an ideal self that she would be, a very well-behaved, following the orders child, and so, her dad could only play, the naughty, the misbehaving side of herself.
In the games, Sen-Hong had, incorporated the emotional ups and downs that his daughter had into the scripts, like the sword fighting novels, “Using one’s own way, to teach one a lesson”, and, he was able to, really, mock her, even in the temper tantrums and the crying bouts too, and her daughter had shown that look of annoyances, “You’re really getting loud!”
He’d used the delicate emotions, to protect her ego, and, in the conversations, he’d not spoken any blames to her, until the games were over, he’d asked her, “If that loud and crying baby showed up at our house, how would you feel?”, the daughter then, fell silent; he believed, that she’d gotten what he was trying to convey to her, and, he’d switched to another topic.
Her Daddy’s Little Helper
not my picture…
The girl had once described her parents to her kindergarten teachers, “Dad can see, mom can’t see clearly”. So, she’d expected herself to help them out, and she’d often asked her mom, “How old do I need to be, to take daddy outside?” Actually, Seng-Hong is more than mobile, it’s just, that the little girl wanted to help make her dad’s life easier.
She was only three-and-a-half, when she’d taken her dad out for the first time. Her little hands, led his bigger hand, they’d crossed through the streets and alleys big and small, they’d halted in front of a shop, the two of them brought back breakfast for the whole family.
As they’d arrived home, he’d asked, “It seemed, that a lot of people are, looking at you, do you know why that is?”, the daughter shook her head, and so, Seng-Hong stepped into other people’s perspectives, “They probably never encountered a child, taking a blind adult out, so, I’m guessing, that they must believe, that you are, a V-E-R-Y G-O-O-D G-I-R-L”, the last three words, he’d, placed the emphasis on, he’d spoken it using a high-pitched voice, with a happy tone, used a lot of force, and exaggeration.
Then, Seng-Hong bent over, picked her up, over his own head, her legs dangled in midair, she’d felt very thrilled; dad kept commending her, “Wow, how did we have such an amazing daughter in our household!”, the girl started chuckling nonstop, and her voice seemed to be, flying high up in the air.
Ever since, the connections of “taking dad out” and “well-behaved child” was made, and, she’d even accompanied her dad on bigger ventures, shopping trips, grocery shopping, taking the busses………
I believe, that that deeply felt praise, must’ve found a place to root downward inside of her young mind; once remembered, it will, NEVER be forgot. With the coming of age, the memories grow bigger too, she seemed to understand, and accepted her father as blind, not only did she not feel embarrassed by him, she’d become, real proud, that she could, help her dad on numerous occasions!
It is very late now, before they’d left, the guys wanted to go to the restroom, as I was about to lead them out, she’d run up quick, “Dad, I’ll take you.” After the bathroom break, with one hand, taking her dad’s hand, the other hand, with a gift bag from the guests, they’d walked together, one step, after another, down the hill.
I had NO idea what Seng-Hong gave to his own daughter for her birthday, but, in the future, she would come to know, the values that her father had, instilled in her, which was, the most precious gift of all.
And so, from this interaction, you can see how independent this young girl becomes, for the sake of her father, and, her father, trained her well too, and, this young lady will eventually, grow up, into, a well-adapted, understanding, empathetic young woman later on in her life.
Life, the Obstacle Course 