My father

蘭嶼燈塔

Nine years ago, my diary.

My father is the most important person in my life. He usually gives me his suggestions and supports my decisions. He always tells me to trust my choices and to do my best! He has some qualities that affect me deeply and I believe these qualities are why he is my idol.

My father is 61 years old and he has exercised every day since he was 30 years old. Therefore, he looks younger than his age. In fact, my mother has told me about the many times my father’s female colleagues have said, “ Mr. Chang looks very handsome and young.” Actually, my mother was a little bit jealous, but glad. In addition, my father is not very tall; he is about 163 centimeters. He has a voice that is soft but commanding. I remember a time when he had to stand on the stage and give a speech. Even though he was not tall, his voice was strong, clear and commanding; it reminded me of a giant’s.

My father has many different interests. He has his own dark room that he usually develops white and black photos in. He especially likes to make copies of old pictures of my huge family. He said that he hopes to keep the old family memories alive for my family. Another thing about my father is, that he is like a dictionary about nature. When I was a little girl I liked to sit beside him because he taught me the many constellations in the summer night. Once my family woke up at midnight in order to see the lunar eclipse. He not only knows about constellations, he knows about different kinds of clouds, plants and birds. Last year, he was busy because he joined a project to write records about plant histories of my hometown. At that time, he found some original water lily seeds dormant in the fields for 30 years. He was successful in restoring them to bloom. I think that it was not easy to do that. Therefore, he is a smart man.

Also my father is a responsible person. He is the first child of my grandparents and he has four sisters and one brother. In the poor times, he needed to help his parents take care domestic chores and housework when he was very young. Moreover, he was a president of a primary school but he retired two years ago after working for 35 years. I knew that he went to school every day even during summer vacation, because he said he needed to be concerned for the quality of teaching. Furtheremore, he hoped the students could receive correct ideas in school. During his career he changed many schools. However, they were all in my hometown. One of the reasons why he worked was because he needed to take care of my family. Another reason was he wanted to improve the students’ abilities and education.

My father and I went to see the constellations on New Year’s Eve two years ago. Suddenly, the wind became strong and the clouds covered the moon and stars. We couldn’t see any constellations. My father told me, “Life is like a cloud; there are many kinds and they change shape quickly.” I think I had gotten another key of life. I believe the meaning of my father’s words are as follows: Life is changing too fast to complain and you need to be able to change as quick as clouds.