Tribute: In Remembrance of Dad 5

連結 (link): 中文版緬懷李老師 5

2019.06.05 at Oak Glen Preserve, California

In addition to teaching at Beitou Junior High School, my dad transferred to Taipei Municipal HuaiSheng Junior High School in 1978 when we moved to Taipei. He taught at HuaiSheng until his retirement in 1997, ending a 40-year teaching career. My father also made many friends at HuaiSheng Junior High. These teachers often formed groups to travel together within Taiwan or abroad during the winter and summer school breaks. Additionally, after retirement, they would go hiking together every week, making their retirement life fun and exciting. My sister and I were fortunate enough to travel and go hiking with them, and we are very grateful to these teachers.

My mother has had Parkinson’s disease since 2013, which has made her movements slow and sometimes unstable. These teachers took care of her and gave my father a chance to rest. I have always found it difficult to express my gratitude verbally, so if the teachers of HuaiSheng Junior High read this article, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you. We are deeply aware of your love and thoughtfulness toward my parents and greatly appreciate your kindness.

Traveling and hiking with HuaiSheng Junior High School teachers in recent years

When it comes to travel, both my parents love it. My mom can tell us all the stories about the places they have visited. On the other hand, my dad can only remember a few famous spots and often forgets the rest. But he enjoyed traveling with many friends and family, having fun and taking pictures. He also carefully recorded his itinerary on the calendar, which was detailed and neat at a glance. Dad loved to plan. He was also very good at collecting and organizing information. He liked to use lists or charts to plan things or keep records. Lists and charts made complex things look simple and clear.

After reading his travel log, I realized that they traveled all over the world except Africa and South America. They have left their footprints on every other continent. I came to the United States in 1984 and have stayed abroad for many years. In the early days, I could only exchange brief greetings through expensive overseas phone calls. If we needed to discuss serious matters or details, we communicated through letters. I also faced many struggles and challenges when I first arrived in the United States, so I didn’t know what was happening at home at that time.

Seeing their records of traveling around the world and knowing that my father was not very good at describing trips, I became very curious about why he loved to travel. After chatting with my sister, I guess it is because my father loved my mother. After my mother retired early, she went through menopause, and her hormones were out of balance, which caused her to suffer from serious depression. People say that travel is a good way to treat depression. So, my dad took my mom traveling all over the place during summer and winter school breaks. Their happy travels broadened their horizons, and my mom’s depression improved.

If I have the chance in the future, I will dig up treasures and organize the information and photos from their travels.

My father’s records of his trip to mainland China in 1990 are on a mini calendar. From this sample page, we can see that he recorded his travel itinerary attentively. Seeing this page also reminded me of how meticulously he cut and pasted information for tasks like student class grouping or arranging math lecture notes.

Showing some of the places my parents have traveled around the world (excluding Taiwan and mainland China). I’m afraid I may have missed some, so I use the word “partially” to describe these spots on the map.

A list of their long trips to various places. You may notice a geometric figure on the right with some numbers marked on the side. I guess he was planning a travel-related art creation (I will write a post about his artwork later). He first listed the times and places of the trips, which helped him conceive the idea. Unfortunately, I was not aware of his plan, so I don’t know what his creation might have looked like.

In fact, the relationship between my parents was not one-sided. Dad often told us how much he admired my mom’s perseverance. Take their trip to Brisbane, Australia, from January 23 to 27, 2004, as an example. Dad had long suffered from stomach ulcers and might have felt sick before the trip. I guessed he was determined to go by all means since he had signed up and didn’t want to spoil everyone’s fun. So he, my mom, a daughter, and a grandson went as planned.

My sister recalled that my dad walked strangely as they got off the plane when they arrived at Brisbane’s Gold Coast. Sometimes he walked crookedly, but sometimes normally. After eating, he felt normal, but after a while, he appeared sick again. He was pale and about to faint. At that time, many people were traveling in the same group, and there were many discussions. Some even said my dad might have had a stroke, which really scared my mom and sister.

In the end, he waited until they returned to Taiwan before being sent to the emergency room at National Taiwan University Hospital for treatment. Only then did they find out that my dad had serious stomach bleeding.

At that time, my sister, who had not yet believed in the Lord, saw my mom kneel by Dad’s bedside and pray every night. Even before returning to Taiwan, at the airport, my mom found a prayer room to pray. Three years later, in 2007, my sister, now a believer in Christ, realized how important those prayers were. I would like to thank God for listening to Mom’s prayers, allowing Dad to have many happy trips for the rest of his life.

My parents' travel photos