Video and writing by my daughter

https://www.instagram.com/reel/ChcR8QsAkhg/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hhrnOTC9PjM

papa walks down the street, half a watermelon in his hands. he is like a child in his innocence, his glee.

‘this is how i ate it with my best friend*,’ he tells me in chinese. ‘half for him, and half for me!’

*back on the rural farms in china, where he spent his childhood.

& it’s how i remember eating watermelon, on hot singaporean days. the JOY i had from spooning out big chunks & slurping up the juices 

& it’s how little tah likes to eat her ‘watermelon bowls’ here in our floridian home — halved, messy, & with such delight!

… but i never knew it came from daddy.

i was so surprised when i saw this in utah, because i never knew he did this too?

but OF COURSE it’s where it all came from…

& for the first time in my life, my eyes are slowly opening to where all my magick was inherited from

my parents.

my parents, who walk down the street with zero fucks everyday, delighting in the simplest of pleasures.

my parents, who climb a mountain at 6 am EVERY MORNING, coming back to cook & share in (an unbelievably delicious) breakfast. 

my parents, who birthed & raised FIVE wildly loving children, all SO different + deeply talented in our own unique ways.

my parents, who read to us, and sang to us, and always made time for us, and devoted every god-given moment to building up our family so that WE could have a better life than they did 

& my parents, who now live out the fullest of their lives, doing what they most love to do— hiking up mountains, swimming in the rivers, painting, cooking, yoga, poetry, and writing brilliant papers on scientific matters.

i fucking love my parents.

& for the first time, i am able to see so clearly what i inherited from them.

their joy. their innocence. their unshakable resilience. their faith in all that is true & pure & holy.

& i bow myself in gratitude, to them.