My father left us at the age of 4 and after that I didn’t heard from him anymore. If there were things I wanted to know about him, I would just ask mom or my relatives who knew him. When I reached pre-school, it was required of us in school to introduce ourselves, to tell us about our families including our parent’s occupation. Of course, I don’t know what my father’s work was so I asked my grandmother. She said my father was a soldier. So every time I got to recite in front of the class, I would say my father is a soldier. At the back of my mind, I was thinking what he looks like. I was thinking he was a brave man ready for the war with wearing the exact tactical gear from head to toe. I was then proud to think of my dad that way. But on the other hand, I was wondering. If my father is a soldier, how come my mom never told me about it? I really don’t have a clue if he was a soldier or not because there was no picture at home where he was wearing Tactical Pants, tactical vests or even tactical boots. But still I continued to believe that he was a soldier.
Years after, I heard my relatives teasing my little brother about my dad being a soldier. They were asking him, “where’s your father”? And my brother would answer “He died on the war”. I was shocked with the news and find it out if it was true. So I asked my mother about it and she said that it’s not true. The truth was my father was never really a soldier, it was just a joke. Maybe my grandmother gave me that reply that my father was a soldier to end up all my questioning about my father.