Happy Father’s Day

For most people, Father’s Day is celebrated with a warm classic breakfast, or an evening out with the family at Dad’s favorite restaurant.  Sometimes it’s not even an elaborate ordeal, and could just be a casual day out in the yard, or fishing perhaps.  Within the past 21 years of my life however, I have yet to spend any form of Father’s Day celebration with my dad.  It’s not something I could say I’m sad about, simply because I’ve never experienced it to even miss it.  Yet a curious part of me wonders at times, how it’d feel to have him by my side.  After my parent’s separation since I was 3, it was always an occasional visit on his business trips, or a phone call on the weekends.  It wasn’t until recently when I moved to Southern California for college, that I’ve become closer to this man whom I’ve yet to know more about.

My father is an interesting man.  For the most part, he’s a scholar who studied in France for the majority of his adolescent years, and practically lived and breathed music all his life.  While he was in Vietnam, my father rose to fame as a songwriter with the success of his piece entitled Tình Khúc Mùa Đông, or Winter Lovesong.  After a period of time, he left his homeland to attend Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, where is received his master’s in Economics.  In 1973, he returned to Vietnam where he became a Professor of Economics at the prestigious University, Võ Bị Quốc Gia.  It was during that time that he met my mother and fell in love.  I guess my mother and I both have a thing for nerds/musicians. About three years following my birth, my father returned to the states on business, and our relationship was put on hold until my arrival to the US in 1991.  

In all honesty, I knew about 80% of this information firsthand, but I had to learn the rest through biographical websites that were put up by others–critics, fans, and Vietnamese-based media.  It’s always been interesting to me how I’ve known so much about his public life, but yet I’ve never really gotten to know him.  With time however, I’ve come to realize that relationships don’t just sprout up overnight.  It’s been a gradual process, but I’m grateful for each step that we’ve made so far.  Through our occasional lunch dates and emails, I’m beginning to see him as more than just a person in writing–but a father…my father. Happy Father’s Day, dad. 

For those of you who can read Vietnamese, here’s a website about my dad–nhac si Thanh Trang: http://my.opera.com/diemxuacafe/blog/show.dml/2434220

 

Nhạc Sĩ Ngô Thụy Miên và Thanh Trang. (This was at a musical event in Washington DC; my dad's on the right)

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