Phương Hoàng Hamilton: Father’s Day

Saturday, June 15, 2024

Father’s Day

Mỗi năm vào tháng 6 có Ngày Từ Phụ. Ngày dành cho cha cũng như tháng 5 có ngày Từ Mẫu.

Khi nào nhớ cha thì cũng nhớ mẹ và ngược lại.

Khi nào nhớ cha cũng là hình ảnh người nhọc nhằn làm việc. Thì ra cha tôi là người rất siêng năng cần cù làm việc này chưa xong đã tính sang chuyện khác kiếm tiền. Cha là một người thành công trong thương mãi.

Nhớ cha là nhớ tình thương con cháu to lớn vô giới hạn. Cha thương gia đình cha mẹ anh em của cha và thương mẹ tôi và chúng tôi mà bây giờ tôi mới nghiệm ra qua từng hành động sau khi cha đã mất và tôi đã già.

Nhớ những lo toan cho từng đứa con. Cha thương tất cả các con từng đứa và đã ra đi khi chúng tôi tự lo được cho tương lai của mình.

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Nhớ cha tôi là khi tôi còn bé xíu cha luôn chở tôi bằng xe hơi đi nơi này nơi kia.

Một mình cha có nhiều xe. Thì ra cha tôi là người thích xe. Sau khi có nhiều con cha lái chiếc xe Jeep wagon để mỗi khi đi đâu chở cả đám con theo. Khi tôi còn nhỏ là xe Land Rover, xe Jeep rồi xe truck có thùng to. Một mình ông có 3 chiếc xe để đi làm. Một chiếc Traction đen của hãng Citroen đi chơi và gặp bạn bè hay ra ngoài ngoại giao. Một chiếc xe truck Dodge để chở công nhân và vật liệu xây dựng khi ông làm thầu khoán. Một chiếc xe hai bánh để lái khi đi đường gần nhà hiệu Suzuki rồi sau đó thay chiếc khác là Honda. Khi nào cũng vừa có xe bốn bánh và xe hai bánh để thay phiên chạy đường xa hay đường ngắn cho tiện việc làm.

Xe 4 bánh của cha là xe cũ, có chiếc tôi nghĩ là được sản xuất từ hãng GM hay Chrysler...từ thế chiến thứ 2. Những chiếc xe này đã được đưa tới Việt Nam từ năm nào xa xưa, và có lẽ phục vụ cho quân đội sau đó phế thải mà cha tôi mua lại rồi tân trang sữa chữa để dùng. Người thích xe như cha tôi phải ở Bắc Mỹ này mới đúng. Mỗi khi đi trên đường thấy xe Jeep Wagon thời hiện đại lại nhớ cha nhiều. Đó là chiếc xe cuối cùng trong đời lái xe của cha.

Nhìn xe Jeep chạy nhiều trên đường tôi nghĩ mua một chiếc lái kỷ niệm nhớ chiếc xe của cha mình. Anh xã Kim nói: “Thôi em ơi xe đó là lemon car”??? Tôi thấy xe cũ mà cha tôi lái chiếc Jeep Wagon cả chục năm có sao đâu. Xe Jeep từ mấy chục năm qua đâu có lỗi thời nhỉ, sao anh chê xe Bắc Mỹ mà lái xe Nhật???

Anh cũng chẳng cho tôi lái xe mà như cha tôi là đi đâu anh chở đi. Lúc nhỏ cha chở đi ḥọc đi chơi... bây giờ mấy chục năm qua chồng chở đi khắp nơi.... Thật có phúc và có số được bảo bọc cẩn thận.

Tạ ơn cha và tạ ơn ông cha của các con tôi.

Thương nhớ cha.

Every year in June there is Father's Day. Father's Day is like Mother's Day in May.

Whenever I miss my father, I also miss my mother and vice versa.

Whenever I miss my father, I always see the image of someone working hard. It turned out that my father was a very diligent person and had not finished this job before thinking about doing something else to make money. Father was a successful man in business.

Missing my father means remembering my father boundless love for his children and grandchildren. My father loved his family, his parents and his brothers, and he loved my mother and us, which I now realize through every action after my father passed away and I was old.

Remember the worries for each child. Father loved all of his children individually and he passed away when we were able to take care of our own future

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Remember my father when I was little, he always took me by car to this place and that place.

My father alone had many cars. It turned out my father was a car lover. After having many children, my father drove a Jeep wagon so that he could take all his children with him wherever he went. When I was a child, it was a Land Rover, a Jeep, and a truck with a big trunk. He alone had 3 cars to go to work. A black Traction of Citroen to go out and meet friends or go out on diplomatic trips. A Dodge truck to transport workers and construction materials when he worked as a contractor. A two-wheeled vehicle to drive on the road near home was Suzuki and then replaced by another Honda. There were always four-wheeled vehicles and two-wheeled vehicles to take turns running long distances or short distances for convenient work.

My father's 4-wheeled vehicles were old cars, I think were manufactured by GM or Chrysler... since World War II. These cars were brought to Vietnam a long time ago, and perhaps served in the army, then it was scrap that my father bought and then refurbished and repaired for use. People who like cars like my father should live in North America. Every time I see a modern Jeep Wagon on the road, I miss my father so much. It was the last car in my father's driving life.

Looking at Jeeps running a lot on the road, I thought about buying one to commemorate my father's car. Kim, my husband said: "Come on, that car is a lemon car"??? I don't see anything wrong with old cars, but my father drove a Jeep wagon for many years. Jeeps from the past few decades are not outdated, why does my Kim criticize North American cars but drive Japanese ones???

Ah! he also doesn't let me drive, but like my father, he takes me wherever I go. When I was little, my father drove me to school and everywhere... now, over the past few decades, my husband has taken me everywhere.

What a blessing and a fate to be carefully protect by father and husband.

Thank you father and thank you my children's fathers.