"Don't sweat the little things."

I called my father this afternoon to wish him a happy Father's Day. The thought he left me with at the end of our call was, "Don't sweat the little things."

While growing up, my father cared for me as provider, tutor, airplane stilts, frisbee-in-the-tree retriever, and the big back pocket I held on to tightly while he navigated through the many human obstacles at the mall. Sundays were the days when we would sit on the front door step and I would clip his finger nails. He never yelled when it looked like I would cut too close, but would move back to adjust. He isn't stupid!


When I moved away from home, we became friends as well! We would meet for lunch weekly, and then when it became physically impossible due to oh, about 5,000 miles, he made sure that it didn't feel that way. He has always been around as support through good and not so great times.

My father not only watches over me, but he watches over his three children and granddaughter (soon to be 4 grandchildren!) in Japan; the children who lost their lives in a fishing boat accident in the Pacific; warmly welcomes young sailors from Japan who come to port, far from home; as well as fosters the remembrance of our ancestors within the community...and he makes a killer bowl of fried rice!

I don't know how he finds the energy!

-Cassaendra