I want my dad to know who I am before he dies

“You know your dad talks about you all the time. He’s always telling me about you and your brother’s accomplishments. He’s so proud of you.” I grew up my whole life hearing variations of this statement. I used to be so embarrassed - it’s pretty cringe when your dad is constantly trying to brag about you at work, at parties, and to random brown families at the grocery store. My brother and I used to get so mad at him, begging him to stop and even avoiding him at times. I wish I recognized earlier that it came from pure love. My dad was diagnosed with Stage 4 thyroid cancer the winter of my freshman year of high school. 95% of people who had similar conditions died within 2 years of the diagnosis. My biggest and most vocal fan wouldn’t even get to see me graduate high school. When my dad was diagnosed, I became very aware of the fact that he might die without knowing who I really was. Neither of my parents did. Like a lot of my friends with immigrant parents, I had quite a different pers

“You know your dad talks about you all the time. He’s always telling me about you and your brother’s accomplishments. He’s so proud of you.” I grew up my whole life hearing variations of this statement. I used to be so embarrassed - it’s pretty cringe when your dad is constantly trying to brag about you at work, at parties, and to random brown families at the grocery store. My brother and I used to get so mad at him, begging him to stop and even avoiding him at times. I wish I recognized earlier that it came from pure love. My dad was diagnosed with Stage 4 thyroid cancer the winter of my fres