Observance

Reposting from Bi's FB page:

today marks 6 years from the day of my dad’s passing. 

left photo :: cầu nam ô, đà nẵng, việt nam

back in october, i got the chance to take a 100km motorbike road trip from huế to đà nẵng. it’s supposed to be one of the most beautiful routes in vietnam: beaches to the left, mountains to the right. on the way, i asked the motorbike driver to make a special pitstop at cầu nam ô (nam o bridge) - the place from where my dad, mom, and eldest brother (who was a 1 year old baby at the time) hopped on a boat in 1978 into the sea - not knowing what would lie out there beyond vietnam, beyond huế, beyond what they’ve always known - but risking and hoping that beyond the vast and unknown sea is something better than the wartorn land that they were leaving behind.

right photo :: golden gate bridge, san francisco, usa

who would’ve thought that my family would end up in california. that my dad would one day be standing in front of the golden gate bridge; with his first daughter, his first child to be born in california, who will wear a “USA california” sweatshirt.

who would’ve thought that his first daughter, his first child to be born in california, would return to the land of his birth 28 years after his departure and meet his mother for the first time and they would exchange many smiles, and she would return again 34 years after his departure and 5 years after his death for a longer stay and ride her bicycle to his mother’s house everyday at 5pm when she knew that his bed-ridden mother was left home alone and when she experienced overwhelming frustrations with their family dynamics that she would call upon his spirit for guidance.

who would’ve thought that, though on different sides of the globe, nam o bridge and the golden gate bridge are actually connected. both bridge together hope and loss, beauty and destruction, beginnings and letting go.