I’m really glad to be able celebrate this Father’s Day with my dad in Hawaii on family vacation. He’s been wanting the whole family to visit Hawaii again because the last time we were here, it was right before my dad started his post-doc program at Harbor-UCLA two-plus decades ago. He brought all of us there to vacation there before he left for California.

While in Hawaii, we actually made a last-minute decision for me to go with him while my mom and brother went back to Taiwan. That would start the process of us eventually moving to America. How different life could have been had that never happened.

It’s amazing what my dad has accomplished since that first Hawaii trip. He completed his post-doc, and because of his notable work, he secured green cards for all of us to move to America. To practice medicine here, he would have to re-do a lot of his training, so he made the sacrifice of moving back to Taiwan to work so that my brother and I could grow up here.

Because of his perseverance and hard-work, we moved from apartment to condo, and eventually to our own home. My brother and I had everything we needed (and even what we didn’t need), and had all the opportunities to pursue our academic and personal goals.

Dad, even though you are not a believer, you have had the most influence in shaping my understanding of God. One of the first verses that spoke deeply to me was 1 John 3:1, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God.” Because of your sacrifice all these years, putting our well-being above your own, I connected to that, having had a tangible example of that kind of self-less love.

Dad, thank you. I love you.