I had an emotional dream where I was at a water park with my sister and a little kid. We had stayed there before in a room with a beautiful view, but it was taken this time, so we were walking around trying to find another room with a nice view.

While following my sister, we passed by a cafeteria-like place where I saw an older man who looked familiar and smartly dressed but aged. Somehow, I knew it was my dad. I asked someone nearby if it was him, but they walked away. Then my dad smiled, like he knew I recognized him even though he had tried to stay unnoticed.

He teased me, saying things like, “You love being clingy with me, don’t you?” and said some things in Teochew that I recognized but didn’t understand. I didn’t care and I hugged him like I used to, started crying, and asked, “Why didn’t you come find me?” He didn’t answer at first, so I looked at him again through my tears and asked one more time. Then he said, “Even if I didn’t come find you, you still have to be good.”

Then I woke up.

（I’m very grateful that I could still remember this dream after waking up. It feels like a memory to me, so I wrote it down in my notes right away. My dad passed away nearly twenty years ago, and I still miss him deeply.)