The farewell came to us all of a sudden.
My dear father left us earlier this month at the age of 91 due to old age.
He stayed in bed just for three days. He didn't suffer from any pain.
At the end, he was gone just as a candle flame goes out.
He looked as if he were still sleeping. I believe that his life of more than 90 years was a fulfilling one.
Yet I miss him so badly. Even at my age, in my 50s, I was still his child.
It is harsh to learn that I can't see him, hear him or even reach him any more in this world.
How I wish I could have turned time backward again to talk to him just once before he was gone.
I know that's a ridiculous idea, but none of us expected that he would be gone that day.
This was his and our destiny, though.
Now I recall many stories of my father and experiences I shared with him in my life.
All of them are so dear to me.
He personally loved drawing, writing, reading and loved chemistry. Also I loved him playing the harmonica. He was extremely good at Japanese calligraphy — a talent which he inherited from his own father. I luckily take after my father in some of these ways too. I am proud of being his daughter.
Well I have to go forward for my mother and my own family.
That is what my father expects me to do now.
I truly believe so.
