my dad

Yesterday evening I invited my Dad to come visit. I don't get to see him that often except at my sister's place, where my attention is often taken up by Sara and Annie.

My Dad turns 71 next week. I never remember how old he is, mainly because he seems so much younger, at least to me. He travels to Japan several times a year to visit with a friend and do volunteer work at a school. He's constantly working on improving his fluency in Japanese; he was born in Vancouver, and Japanese was not his first language. I bought him a rosewood flute a couple years ago, and he practises it everyday. During his last trip to Japan, he bought a handmade lacquered flute that I'm lusting over ("hey Dad, are you sure you didn't buy that for ME?").

He uses his computer all the time to keep in touch with friends in Japan and has a much better digital camera than I do. He works out at the gym 5-6 times a week. He babysits Sara and Annie 3-4 times a week. He's one of the most active retired people I know.

"Relax, Dad. Enjoy your retirement," I'll say to him.

"But I am!" he'll reply, and then he'll be off on another trip.

My Dad's been through some rough times in his life including having his family's hotel business taken away during the war when he was a kid, losing his wife to cancer, losing his son and daughter-in-law in an automobile accident. He was one of the first (if not the first) Japanese schoolteachers in Toronto, and his first teaching assignment was in a particularly rough area of the city. He's also one of the most positive people I know.

He and I played flute and harp together when he came to visit, which was fun: Ode To Joy (which was one of my brother's favourites) and Plaisir d'amour. We had dinner at Fune, and both of us ordered the sashimi dinner. We talked about his life, my life, the future, had green tea ice cream for dessert.

Then we strolled over to Chapters, where I bought the Fellowship of the Rings DVD. Yes, I caved; I had originally toyed with the idea of waiting until November until the full version comes out. I blame Rand and Allison and the guy behind the counter in Chapters. I'll buy the November version, too, of course. I was pushed over the edge of indecision into buying the DVD by a brief conversation with the Chapters guy, who is obviously a Tolkien fan. Like Allison and Rand, he assured me that none of the special features on the DVD I was buying would be on the November DVD version. He also said that George Lucas bought a copy of the DVD in the store last week (!).

After we came back to the apartment, my Dad asked if we could watch part of the movie before he drove back home despite the fact that he's already seen the movie twice in the theatres. While he watched the movie, I gloated over the leather bookmark that came with the DVD and pored over the list of special features.

And marvelled over the fact that I have such a cool Dad. :-)





I've updated Waiting For Frodo.