My Father’s Keeper

My father came to the US when he was 14 with my grandmother and aunt. He hadn’t quite met my grandfather yet but knew he played a crucial role in bringing out family over in fear of what was to come with China’s regaining of Hong Kong.

He was one of the first families in Malden and soon after a number of years he met my mother and had four daughters. I watched him work a majority of my childhood, he would always tell us how hard work would always turn into gain, even if it didn’t for him. He’d work tirelessly to keep the roof over our heads, and try to provide no matter the subject. We’d make jokes growing up that he had a degree in every subject because of how he’d educate us on every possible illness, every car issue, every bad relationship, he’d always had some solution he’d tell us with confidence.

He always told me how he wanted better for us, and for what little he had he tried to be there no matter the issue, Johnny Kwong has a solution. He has adapted to a world he didn’t grow up in and with that struggle he still tried to give us that American pie life. He’s a roof over my head, I know that as long as he’s around I’ll always have a place home.

I am my father’s keeper, I portray him back when he got his perm in the 80’s with a fulu marking- a daoist talisman for protection. A prayer that I can provide for my father one day they way he provided for me.