Brutal or not, today marks the twelfth Father’s Day I am without my father. It seems like time is teaching me about life, emphasizing the importance of loving our loved ones timely.

Dad, I want to tell you I have had many sleepless nights recently, with Father’s Day approaching, your memory is constantly on my mind.

Dad, I miss you terribly, and I find myself sobbing, wetting my pillow. I am sorry for not being strong, even after all these years since you passed away. The guilt still haunts me whenever I think about how we categorically promised to bring you home for that year’s Chinese New Year, only to fail to fulfill your last wish. The pain is immense. Thinking of your eagerness to be with us in the Chinese New Year, and the loneliness you must have endured in the hospital, breaks my heart.

Dad, this year I’ve chosen a song titled “We’re All Alone” to sing for you on Father’s Day. Sarcastic or not, “we’re all alone” when we start with our parents, siblings, and relatives, then meet classmates at school, make friends and colleagues as we grow up, find love in courtship, choose a life partner, have children who teach us about life with their innocence and joy, and some may even have grandchildren to complete their lives. However, as we grow old, we may gradually find ourselves alone at different stages, especially and blatantly in life’s later years. In my opinion, “We’re All Alone” may mean “WE NEED EACH OTHER”!

Dad, I love you and miss you, and I want to say aloud to you that we have never stopped needing you are not alone!