New Dad Confession 10

My Dad, like many other Asian parents, sometimes has questionable etiquette when it comes to picking up his cell phone during certain social settings.  There must be something about Asian culture or being old where answering a ringing cell phone hunched over with an almost non-whispered, "Hello??" is equivalent to side-buttoning yo ass.

However, as I've gotten older and become a Dad myself, I've realized that one of the things I've most appreciated about my Dad was that he'd just about pick up the phone every time I would call.  Growing up, it never even occurred to me that he might be busy at work when I called his office number from the yes, land-line, simply because perhaps I was proud of myself for memorizing his work number and for the finger strength it took to dial a '9' on the rotary.  Even in recent years when I had to call his cell phone for whatever reason during the day and he would pick up in a hushed whisper, only after hanging up would it cross my mind that hm...he's one of the top executives at his company and so any meeting he'd be at is likely really important.  Then I'd get an image of him in a meeting with fellow executives hunched over almost under the table answering the phone.  "What a dork!  Don't pick up then," I'd think, but my sub-conscious knows that the story of my life is that my Dad always tried to make himself available to me.

I hope that I can always be available to my children even at the expense of "social etiquette" if necessary.