My dad is the strongest person I know. He’s dealt with so much shit, and I take it all for granted. My mom, a Vietnamese woman, immigrant, is definitely in charge of the family. My dad just goes along with it. Whenever he tries to suggest something, things often turn into a heated argument. My mother has anger management problems. The relationship isn’t abusive, my dad just gets stepped on by everyone and he goes along with it. He’s such a nice person, he just takes it and moves on.
His dream is to fix up his 1960 Austin Healey. He has tons of other cars that he’s been working on too. The thing is, he likely won’t finish any of them before he dies. He’s in his mid 60s, still working a 6-6 (yes no kidding), and has cancer. He recently got surgery, and his cancer was dealt with, but there’s signs of developing cancers elsewhere. I hate seeing my dad work so much and get nothing in return.
To my parents, i’m the man of the house. My dad has risen to be a “tough guy”. Typical masculine 16 year old. I believe i live up to his standards. Here’s my problem though. On his death bed, when i’m right next to him, I don’t think i’ll be able to say “ I love you”. it just doesn’t fit the persona I’ve grown up with. And my dad has always wanted me to get into cars like him, but that isn’t what i aspire to be like. my passion is sports.
I don’t want to let my dad down. Idk what to do. I want him to stop working so he can finish his cars, and have something meaningful to remember in his life. I just hope he knows I love him
I remember when I was around 7-8 years old, my mother was pregnant with my little sister (10 years old now). Me, my older sister (12-13 years old at that time), my younger sister (6-7 years old at that time), my mother, and my father went to get food and everything. At that time, my mom recently found out she was pregnant with my little sister (2 months in I think?). My father was somewhat happy about it but we had vacation that summer and that night, my parents argued in the car if they were going to abort my sister or not. My father told my mother to abort my sister because they were going to vacation that summer and it would be too hard for my mother. Of course my mother didn't want to abort her so she argued back with him. My father just kept on driving around while arguing with her. It got so bad to the point where they started yelling at each other and my mother was threatening to divorce my father. My mother then told my father to drop her off at her parents' house (my grandparents if that's easier). Then my father did because he didn't want to make my mother even madder and he's afraid that she might divorce him. (He already built a whole family of 9 about to be 10 with my mother and doesn't want a divorce). Me and my sisters were just sitting there quietly. I asked my father if he was going to wait for my mother to come out, since he started to 'drive away' (He was just trying to park so people can get through him). My father really had the nerve to say, "No." I got so worried but my mother ended up coming back to the car 30 minutes later. On the car ride home, it was so quiet that you can hear our breaths. When we got home, my mother told my grandmother (Dad's side, since it's a thing in my culture where the mothers have to live with their sons in the future), and my grandmother started cussing out my father. My father didn't say anything back because he knew his mother was right. 7 months later, my sister was born. (Up until this day, I still think about it a lot and wonder "What if they actually aborted my little sister all because of a little vacation that would only last 1-2 weeks? I wouldn't have been able to see her grow up and know what her favorite things to do. Honestly, most of it was a blur. But I remembered a lot about it and my older sister helped me on most of it when I tried to remember it). I am now 18 and my little sister is 8. I don't plan on telling her anytime soon about what I told you but my older sister wants to. I just don't want to tell her because its unnecessary and stupid.
