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Eulogy for my dad given on February 17, 2017
In my childhood, I remembered my dad doing a lot of sporty stuff with me. One unique memory my family brings up often was on a family trip. We went to a boat dock. My dad and I wanted to go on this water bike, one that was low to the ground and not the usual side by side water bikes. The lady working there said it was safe and that no one could fall out. My dad and I got on the water bike, and guess what, we fell into the water. The lady said in all her years, that had never happened, but… we made it happen.
My dad was a hard worker and had a prestigious job as a mechanical engineer at Aerospace, working on space rockets. He really was a rocket scientist. As busy as he was, I never felt he neglected the family.
Because of my dad, I loved playing sports growing up. He taught me how to throw a frisbee and a football. He introduced me to swimming, biking, tennis, basketball, and ping pong. In the summer, I’d make him swim with me at our grandparents’ pool for at least an hour. And he would let me style his hair in the water into a mohawk or wolverine hair style. Ping pong became his sport. He made our first ping pong table out of wood and we played even before I was tall enough to actually play. I would usually hit the ball too hard and he was always so patient with me and would pick up all the ping pong balls that I had hit everywhere. Still, I’d be the one who would be tired first while he had the energy to keep playing.
My dad was diagnosed with Parkinson’s around the time I finished middle school and started high school so a majority of who I remember him as was after he was diagnosed. He has always been one of the kindest dads I have ever known. He rarely complained even with his illness and he never raised his voice. He went on disability leave in 2012 and I felt it actually made him more alive and energetic. He took care of the garden in our back yard and played ping pong almost every day at the community center. Sometimes he invited his ping pong friends over. Other times he and I continued to play together in our backyard or garage…and I would still hit the ball everywhere. He remained friendly and loving even in his last years.
CS Lewis said this about people:
“If of three friends (A, B, C) A should die, then B not only loses A, but "A's part in C," while C loses not only A, but "A's part in B." In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can only bring out.”
I won’t see a certain joy my dad brought out of others anymore, in my mom, sister, and brother. My aunts and uncles loved him and I won’t see the joy he brought to them, especially his four sisters--my aunts--who always smiled when they saw him. When he got baptized in the early 2000s, someone from church commented on how cute it was to see my four aunts sitting in a row, wiping their tears away as they saw him get baptized. At church, he would show off pictures of us kids, my siblings and me, and pictures of my nephew. He always loved to make conversation with the people around him. Even when he was ill, he would chat with the doctors and nurses.
My dad came to believe in God during his illness. I remember when he had his doubts about God. He couldn’t reconcile science and the Bible. Yet, shortly after his diagnosis, he realized his need for God. He went to church more often and saw that God was good and sovereign and in control of the universe and everything. He got baptized and went to church joyfully. During the last few months of his life, he suffered much but he persevered by God’s grace.
We have this hope and certainty that he is in the best place: in the presence of God in heaven. We miss him but we know we will see him some day again. God, thank you for giving me the best dad for me.
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(I didn't include this in the eulogy but two distinct fun things I remember with my dad was when we hugged, we'd squeeze hard and say "eek". And a few times, he carried me over his shoulders to bed and he said this is how army people carried casualties. Pretty random but I remembered those two things distinctly.)
