Talking about somebody who is inspiring and gives the most impact on me, it is my father. It is always him and will forever be. He is the one who unconsciously directs me to be who I am today, especially from the career and the study I choose. And perhaps the man I dream to have in the future. Whole of my life, I have never seen him raising voice towards my mother. Whatever he will do and wherever he will go, he will ask my mother’s permission first. He won’t go out of the house if he’s not telling my mother yet. Having my heart broken for a thousand times in the past, witnessing and seeing the way my father treats my mother on a regular basis, makes me believe that true love does exist and it somehow relieves my trust issue resulted from my experience.
He is a very sensitive man though it doesn’t show up from his appearance. My father is tall, has a strong and sharp facial features and a mascular body that these days make me sad because he has lost some of his weight. Thinking that he is 60 now, I am even sadder. As children are busily growing up, parents are growing old. Friends who never talk to him before will be very surprised when meeting him. In fact, he is very friendly, welcoming and cherishes human interaction. I think, this personality is what makes him survive in the business he has started for more than 20 years ago. He knows how to deal with several types of people and quick at analyzing situation.
When I was younger, my father hasn’t started his own business yet. I have been seeing how he started everything from the very basic level. It took blood, sweat and tears. Mostly, I just knew it recently. I can’t imagine how parents can hide their difficult times from the children. Because I saw that everything was okay. It is also what makes my heart sick every time I remember how rebellious I was when I was a teenager. I argued a lot with him. It was a tough moment when I felt that my father didn’t understand me. I hardly could get permission to do things and to go to places I really want to.
I questioned why the other kids freely chose their paths and oh my God why my parents were so protective. Now I know the answer. Aceh, the place where I come from, had ever experienced a 30-year long conflict in the past. As a kid, I could say it was like a war where people died easily, gunshot and bombing happened usually. When I was in the high school, another disaster came, a magnitude-9.1 earthquake and devastating tsunami struck almost all part of my hometown and killed hundred thousand of people. It must be hard and traumatic that the rules in my house become even tighter.
Once in my teenage life, I wrote a short story that got chosen as a favorite story on a national-level competition titled, ‘Ayah, Aku Ingin Bicara’, literally translated as ‘Dad, Can I Talk to You?’
Now, in my late 20s, I can go wherever I want to. It is very easy for me to do whatever I want to. I found the answer. It is because he has been seeing that I can be responsible for what I have started. This treatment has been there since I graduated from college. I've got the ticket, but funny now I prefer to stay at home more than going out.
My father is not perfect. Nobody is. He is apparently an anxious person and can’t really relax. He’s practical and walks fast. It’s like his mind is always working and he needs to move or do something. However, he transforms it into working hard. He also finds a good balance to his weaknesses, my mother, to name another influential soul in my life. My mother is a woman who wakes up her children by kissing, hugging or tickling. It is very different with my father who is strict and realistic. I guess that’s why understanding and staying with your spouse through thick and thin is the most important thing. It is the sweetest thing when a husband and a wife can be a best friend to each other. If somebody asks me what kind of man I’d love to marry in the future, it is someone who will make my future children proud and pick him as the story they will tell over and over again.
I believe, parents are not perfect, neither of us is. In becoming the greatest one to their children, they are also learning and contemplating every single day, and so are we :)
______Mom and dad picking up mango together______
