Dad

I have never been away from any of your birthdays in the past. But today I am in a distant land. I become a stranger to the people around me as they are to me. I used to think that you don't know me as I am. Stranger I become to you. Like the people who used to gather around me each day.

There are things to say. There are words that need be spoken. But sometimes silence speaks better than any word conveys. I sense that I have not completely explored that part between you and me. We have not spent so much time telling things to each other. We have not spent much time on our own.

I was not the one you expected me to be. I was completely different from the person you wanted me to be. Yet, I am me.There are some moments in my life that I feel you totally disown me. You have never really accepted me as who and what I am. Still I pretend that I coexist with you in harmony. At times we might be beside each other but I felt that a great distance separated us. At times I attempted to narrow the bridge between us but I was unsuccessful or I just did not try good enough.

When thick darkness clouds my day, you were there. When troubles beset me, you were there. WhenI was in silent agony and despair, you were there. I may not have noticed it but you were there every step of the way.

We have our differences. It is but natural. Let them be water under the bridge now.

It may come late and I do not want that to happen. I want you to know that I will always be here for you. No matter who and what I become, where I would be, I will be the same son as you know that I am.

I love you, Dad. I may not often say that to you but at least I have this chance of telling you how much you mean to me.

Happy Birthday!