My dad would've been 56 today. He feared growing old and dying young, that much I knew from the way he took so much care of himself. He used to tell me that life was cruel. I guess it never crossed his mind that many years later, life being cruel will exactly be our family afterthought. While I have learned how to keep my emotions in check whenever I think about the past two years, I realized one can never really learn how to forget loneliness. And it so much more insufferable than pain, which is always, always fleeting. The kindest, funniest person I know, Papa will always be my champion. Happy birthday, old man.
