I feel satisfied tonight.
Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2010 11:57 amThis night, one of my fathers' eternal wishes became crystallized.
A few times, since I was a little child, my dad had mentioned he always wanted a telescope to look at the moon, the stars and all the cool things that are up there in the sky. He has had the money to get one many times before, but since we were kids, he always put our welfare first, and as we grew to adulthood, our needs became less of a burden, but medical spending became an important matter with my mother's failing health, my grandfather, his sister, my cousin and then his daughter (my cousin's), as well as repairs to the house and many other important things kept him from getting his own telescope.
Several weeks ago, he started looking at the refrigerator. It had some broken down parts. I opened it, and found out I could fix it myself. Still, he was hesitant "Should I buy a new one?" he asked me that day.
Earlier that day, I saw him eyeing a site with Schmidt-Cassegrain type telescopes. I remembered it, and asked him "Why don't you buy that telescope you were looking at instead? With the right parts, I can patch this thing up and it can last at the very least a couple of years."
He bought the telescope and had it delivered here. I assembled it and we took it to the roof to see the moon. It took a bit of adjusting. The impact craters were so clear that I couldn't believe my eyes as I focused the apparatus.
As I moved from the seat to let my dad use the telescope, I heard him say "It looks beautiful. I wish I could have shown this to my dad before he died." I just stood in silence, not knowing what to say.
Not two minutes had passed and he asked me to adjust the telescope to focus on the moon again. The Earth's rotation took it out of the telescope's field of view. I adjusted it, and he continued looking at it.
"When I was a kid, I always wanted to see with my own eyes how the moon looked. Tonight, I finally did that."
Again, I kept my silence, until I finally found the best words I could come up with:
"Just wait until we have a full moon. You'll be able to look at it in all its splendor."
As I looked at his face, I could imagine seeing at his face as a child full of anticipation. I, myself am awaiting that day as well. Because of two reasons. The less important one is because I like looking at the moon and stars. The bigger one is because I want my dad to have fun the way he wanted all these years.
A few times, since I was a little child, my dad had mentioned he always wanted a telescope to look at the moon, the stars and all the cool things that are up there in the sky. He has had the money to get one many times before, but since we were kids, he always put our welfare first, and as we grew to adulthood, our needs became less of a burden, but medical spending became an important matter with my mother's failing health, my grandfather, his sister, my cousin and then his daughter (my cousin's), as well as repairs to the house and many other important things kept him from getting his own telescope.
Several weeks ago, he started looking at the refrigerator. It had some broken down parts. I opened it, and found out I could fix it myself. Still, he was hesitant "Should I buy a new one?" he asked me that day.
Earlier that day, I saw him eyeing a site with Schmidt-Cassegrain type telescopes. I remembered it, and asked him "Why don't you buy that telescope you were looking at instead? With the right parts, I can patch this thing up and it can last at the very least a couple of years."
He bought the telescope and had it delivered here. I assembled it and we took it to the roof to see the moon. It took a bit of adjusting. The impact craters were so clear that I couldn't believe my eyes as I focused the apparatus.
As I moved from the seat to let my dad use the telescope, I heard him say "It looks beautiful. I wish I could have shown this to my dad before he died." I just stood in silence, not knowing what to say.
Not two minutes had passed and he asked me to adjust the telescope to focus on the moon again. The Earth's rotation took it out of the telescope's field of view. I adjusted it, and he continued looking at it.
"When I was a kid, I always wanted to see with my own eyes how the moon looked. Tonight, I finally did that."
Again, I kept my silence, until I finally found the best words I could come up with:
"Just wait until we have a full moon. You'll be able to look at it in all its splendor."
As I looked at his face, I could imagine seeing at his face as a child full of anticipation. I, myself am awaiting that day as well. Because of two reasons. The less important one is because I like looking at the moon and stars. The bigger one is because I want my dad to have fun the way he wanted all these years.
