Daddy's In Town!....or City!

I got a nice surprise when I found out that Dad was in town.

I don't usually return calls to unknown numbers but somehow I made an exception and decided to be nice and called back.

I even asked him 'Who's this?' and I introduced myself too. His voice sounded familiar but I was not expecting him to be around (He is most of the time out of the country).

'Jerryboy!' Dad exclaimed. It has been a while since I heard myself being called that way.

To cut a long story short, we arranged to meet at the hotel where he's staying. After work, I rushed down to Petaling Street, parked and made my way to the hotel.

Met him, gave him a great big hug and we sat down for a chat. Dad just got a haircut and he said he wanted to get his hair dyed soon - it was all grey and brown. He will be back for about a month or so but he won't be in KL the whole time. He plans to do some travelling, visit the states in Malaysia that he has not gone to yet. He plans to go to Indonesia to visit a friend there as well. Well, dad always has his own plans else he'd be bored to death.

He's glad to be back. He's working in Nigeria. There's plenty reason for gladness and thankfulness. From his stories you'd think 'It can't be that bad, can it?'. Yes it can. The poor are hardcore poor and the rich are filthy rich. There's live gunfights everday. Armed robberies everywhere. The roads are horrible, there's hardly any streetlights on at night and the city goes quiet after 5 - everyone just stays fortified at home. There's no such thing as 'mamaks' or 24-hour 7-11s. The power interruptions there makes Sabah's power woes look so minute.

'It's no comparison at all' Dad said. I look around and I feel thankful already. I'm so glad that Dad's safe and healthy.

So we had a father-son session, talking about everything from politics to the general stupidity of direct sales. We even had a trip MPH and I picked up a couple of books myself - 'Freakonomics' and 'The Witch of Portobello'. It has been a while since Dad walked into a bookstore and he was shell shocked at how much books cost nowadays. Back in the day they were going for 7-8 Ringgit a pop for what is now RM92 for a 72 page, large print operator's manual. That was how long he has not been in a bookstore.

Other reasons to be thankful for. Dad always gives his young ones a cash injection. That money is going straight to my reserve. I'll be getting another phone too! Dad's old phone got shortcircuited and he bought a new one. He's sending the old one for repair and giving it to me *smiles*. I found out he had initially intended to put the Wira under my name but after discussing it with my uncle they decided not to as a precautionary step lest I trade in the car for a flashy new one. The young man syndrome my dad calls it. Some might see it as a trust issue but I see it as 'I've got your back son'.

Meeting Dad always brings about mixed feelings. There's this constant need for approval and I would be feeling the pressure to show him that I'm getting it made. There's of course the history of the past and all but at the end of the I love him to bits. Sometimes I just wonder about all the 'what ifs..'.

Looking forward to my next dinner session with Dad.