I am an ordinary father who is getting old and loves to watch his children grow up, but is also afraid of them growing up too soon and too fast. I have an issue on letting go. I love holding on to things that I clearly can’t. I looked up and smile as I watch my sweet Hallie happily skipped out the room. Her long brown hair was tied into a bun and judging the way she acted now, she is definitely happier than the person who just won the jackpot. She’s been wishing for freedom ever since they planned this trip. She just doesn’t talk about it since she thinks that she’ll be too annoying.
“Did I make the right choice?” the question that hovered above my head, like a cloud. Releasing Hallie from our hands is the last thing that we would do in our list, but it's still in our list. I wonder how Bea will react after she figuring out what I just decided. I should prepare my ears for a long senseless conversation or arguments. Bea isn’t really the kind of person who just accepts my decisions immediately. She’ll rant first then keep quiet for a period of time just to sink everything in.
Hallie is the baby in our family, and she's obviously not one anymore. However, I still accept and treat her as my baby girl. She is really good at anything, almost everything. Give her a piece of paper then she'll turn it into a flamingo in less than five minutes, and that was when she was six years old. The older she gets, the more beautiful she is. I cannot deny that fact. It seems like she got her mother’s beauty. Whenever I look at her deeply, I see the teenage version of Bea, which makes me reminisce the past. She's closer with Bea though, and I regret not spending more time with her before because of work, but it's relieving that she still accepts me as her father.
She is now taking up wildlife biology and conservation in the University of Guelph. She spends most of her time in front of the computer and books, researching. She makes sure she passes her exams with flying colors and passes her projects before the due date. She is totally my opposite version. Here's the catch, she can balance both her studies and social life equally, and I can’t. She loves to go to parties too. Her life is almost perfect, perfectly balanced. However, she refuses to have a boyfriend, and I have no idea why she chose that decision. I didn’t really forbid her to get a boyfriend, but I can see that she values her future career more than her love relationship. I salute her for that too. (Actually, I wasn’t like that before.)
I have another daughter, who is about eight years older than Hallie. Her name is Pris and is now working as the marketing manager of the company Giftcraft. She was given different awards last month. You know those, best manager, most sales, etc. When she was Hallie's age, she was really different. She hated going to parties. Loud music turns her off. She preferred staying home, to curl up in a sofa with a cup of hot chocolate to read books, unlike Hallie. Pris can stay home for more than a week without complaining.
Last but not the least, Michael. He’s our only son, who is two years younger than Pris. He seems obnoxious if you don't know him, but when you get to know him better, you’ll be surprised. He isn’t what you think he is. He is really friendly and carefree. Defining carefree, it also means girls. He changes his girlfriends time to time, but I do believe that he respects every girl that he hits on.
Education to him is just for fun, a piece of cake. He doesn't study for exams, but still gets high grades for them. It’s pretty funny because I was also like that back then, except for the high grades though. As for his career, he's currently the roller coaster engineer of Canada’s Wonderland.
Bea is my lovely wife. I met her in college. She wasn’t my classmate or whatever. I just bumped into her in a coffee shop during my second year there. She accidentally spilled her Frappuccino on me, and I got really furious, but then when I looked up and saw her face, my mouth and heart fell at the same time. Her beauty is unexplainable. I just stood there with a silly smile pasted on my face while she was saying her apologies. I even bought her a new drink afterwards. That’s when I got to know her more.
Bea is really sneaky and quirky at times. She loves to tease me when I’m doing something and cheer me up whenever I'm down. However, those are the reasons why I love her. There was this incident when I lost $500,000 from our business, and I was really devastated with our loss. It was like my worst nightmare and worst challenge combined. Bea was the one who helped me pick everything up and keep going. She kept on telling me that life isn't just about money but is about serving others and making them happy. She told me to think about our family and how it will be if I gave up on life.
That’s my family.
-Dennis Price, 52 years old