FATHER & DAUGHTER RELATIONSHIP

Reconnecting With My Hilarious Dad

One-of-a-kind dad who is a bit mischievous

Self-portrait of my artist dad,

Dear Non-Member, please click here to read this story.

My dad is an excellent artist with an urbane and sophisticated presence, although he could easily be an outstanding stand-up comedian if he had wanted to. He was absent for most of my life until we reconnected in my late 30s. Before that, I always told others that he was my biological dad because I knew little about him.

In my memory and from my rare interactions with him in the past, he seemed like someone who lacked emotions. If he had them, he never exhibited them under any circumstances. Even when he describes frustrating and upsetting events, he never raises his tone or quickens his speech. Similarly, he never sounds excited when he tells happy events in his life.

When I was 37, I moved to a quaint island (Lamma Island, Hong Kong) where he had been living for over a decade. Living on the same island and having regular contact with him helped me discover more interesting things about him.

Over time, the invisible wedge in our relationship caused by his negligence as a parent fell off. I became proactive in reaching out to him and even opened a gallery to promote his art, which I…