I turn 50 today...

This is a message to my kids but I offer it to you in case any of it rings useful...

I turn 50 today. This is a message to my kids but I offer it to you in case any of it rings useful… I was born in Sri Lanka in 1976 in a country that, at the time, was about to enter a decades long civil war. My father was able to get stationed at the Sri Lankan High Commission in Canada for four years in the early 80s - when some of the fighting was most severe - and which from our vantage point in Canada gave us some respite from an otherwise omnipresent conflict. He came as a diplomat but then my father filed for refugee status after four years when his life was threatened by militants.…

related reading

• after my dad died, we found the love letters – Jenneral HQ 🌠jenn.site
• I’m not special and you aren’t either… - by Megha Jainmeghajain.substack.com
• on family + a late happy father's daychrisnguyn.substack.com
• Reflections on Father's Dayparagraph.com
• Honor your parents or honor yourself?kellyhliu.substack.com
• "I Had to Run for My Life"junior.scholastic.com
• The Fruits of Your Suffering: A Letter to My Refugee Momonbeing.org
• dear dadskincontact.substack.com
• The illusion of job securitycruelsummerbookclub.substack.com
• Transcending My Father's Abusevalspals.substack.com
• What This Fourth of July Means to a Child of Immigrantssubstack.com
• Waking Up from the American Dream | The New Yorkernewyorker.com