Happy Father’s Day

When I married Alan 9 years ago, I knew I loved him and wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. Little did I know though, that he would become the most amazing father to my child. At 25 years old then, I wasn’t exactly mature enough to add ‘fatherly qualities’ to the traits that I wanted in a husband. At 34 now, I know just how important that is, and am grateful that God has not only blessed me a soulmate, but also blessed Bridgette with an incredible father.

Bridgette, you’ll hopefully be reading this blog one day, and I want you to know how lucky you are to have a father who is strong, compassionate, loving, and fun. He is not perfect, yet he strives to be a better person everyday for you and for our family. Father’s day is a great day to celebrate his presence in your life, but I hope you will celebrate it in your heart every day of the year…

In preparation for Father’s Day this year, Bridgette and I worked hard with our paintbrushes to create mementos for Alan, my dad, and my father in law.

Neither my dad or my father in law likes crowds, so we habitually celebrate on the eves of such special occasions. This year, we tried out a new restaurant– Medallion in Burlingame. We were pleasantly surprised with the quality of the food and its reasonable prices. Service, however, was very mediocre (it’s my pet peeve when servers clearly show their dissatisfaction with a non-drinking table) but acceptable.

On Father’s Day, Bridgette and I woke up early to make breakfast for Alan. It’s his favorite oatmeal with fresh fruit (yes, healthy not hearty!).

I had originally planned a very relaxing day for us in Sausalito, but when Bridgette heard of my plans, she insisted that ‘daddy likes excitement, so we should do something more adventurous’. I asked her what she had in mind. She pretended to contemplate a bit before suggesting ‘Let’s take daddy to the water park!’

In my mind, I wondered if it was merely a coincidence that Bridgette had been begging for us to take her to Raging Waters for the past few days… 🙂 I told her that we would let daddy decide, since it was ‘his day’. As I proposed the two ideas to Alan during breakfast, Bridgette jumped on his lap and began whispering in his ear (daddy, pick the water park!). How could Alan say no to this?

One of Alan’s most admirable qualities is his selflessness. He has demonstrated to me over and over again through the years that pure joy can be found just by making others happy, particularly the people that you love. So, off to the South Bay we went, with a lunch stop first at Alan’s favorite ramen place inside Mitsua.

We had the perfect climate that day with 85 degrees weather and a slight breeze. Familiarity is important to a young child. Bridgette loves going back to the same slide at Raging Waters over and over again!

That evening, I had reservations to take Alan to Junnoon, a restaurant in Palo Alto serving modern Indian cuisine.  Alan loves Indian food, but I’m not such a big fan, so we rarely dine in Indian restaurants together. That makes it all the more special when I take him out for Indian food on special occasions such as this one! 🙂

After dinner, we strolled along University Avenue for a bit before we headed home.

What better way to end this special day for Alan than this right here:

I cannot end this post without also acknowledging my extraordinary dad, who has also been an incredible force in my life. I recently read a book call Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters, which tells of the powerful relationship between a father and a daughter. I purchased it with the intention to share some ‘tips’ with Alan on parenting a daughter during the teenage years. However, I ended up learning a lot about myself and the relationship between my dad and I.

Cheers to Alan, my dad, my father in law, and all the wonderful fathers out there!