My Dad : My Father

My father is not a father. Technically, sure he’s a father, but in every other meaning of the word he is not. My dad made my life miserable at a young age by acting like a teenager and forcing me to be responsible. At the same time, I learned what is important in life and I have learned from his mistakes. He changed my life for the better.

“My dear son, I know that you will be sad after I die but know that I am going to fine. I hope you can forgive your father, even though we have been through rough times. I know you can have a bright future but I need you to promise me that you will take every opportunity and by the time you read this you will be happy. So make me happy”.

My father felt that he could do what he physically needed to do, but that was not so important to him. I thought this it was interesting that there was anything within this assessment that my father would find not so important, but there were a few other performance tasks that he felt this way about. He did state that he felt taking care of himself was not so important, but he wanted to change that. As I introduced previously, he feels that he has some difficulty taking care of himself, but mostly due the fact it is not an activity he likes and/or likes taking the time to do. He said that he wants to want to model correct self-care behaviors to his grandchildren, and to do so he needs to begin to learn the importance of those tasks. I think that as he begins doing these tasks with my nieces and nephews he will being to see the value in them, which will be very rewarding for him as a father and grandfather.

My father showed up to my graduation late missing me walk across the stage receiving my diploma, but I still love him. When I was younger we had a normal father daughter relationship until Valentine’s day of 2009 when he left. My mom left the house and business to get away from their toxic marriage. They soon got a divorce and ever since then he hasn’t been an active reliable father. Years passed, and I was still holding on to hope that he’d someday will re-enter his three-daughter’s life but hope soon vanished when he did not attend anything he should’ve as a father, call to check up on us or send not only monetary support, but support in general. My mother and father had a great relationship I would say before the divorce but of course

When I was little, my grandma and I spent a lot of time together. My grandpa was always out and about, doing work all over the place because he owns a real estate appraisal type of business. So I wouldn 't really get to see him that often. My grandma would stay home a lot of the time because she had to watch me.

One of my biggest influences in my life is my own father, Terry Koch. My dad was like a best friend to me when I was growing up. He was incredibly strong, kind and funny. He instilled a lot of the values I have in me today, starting at a young age. Terry was a fighter. He battled with his own body throughout his life. Only later did I find out that he was a sickly child; I thought his illnesses came about later in his lifetime. When I was about nine or ten, he was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, among a series of other lung-related illnesses. At the time, we lived in Colorado. The altitude didn’t do him any favors and within a month he was on oxygen 24/7. The doctors from Denver told him that he had maybe a year to live. They recommended that we move to somewhere closer to sea level; the air would be easier to breathe if we did. So only a year after completing his lifelong dream of building a “dream house” and moving in, we packed up and moved to Santa Cruz. Yet when we got there, he not only went off oxygen for a while, he ended up toughing it out for another eight years.

Throughout my childhood, my dad was always a huge part of my life. Although it was difficult having divorced parents, they managed to deal with the situation as best as they could. It was hard having my dad live in either New Orleans or in Gonzales when I went to school in Baton Rouge, but somehow we made it work. He knew everyone and by everyone I mean we could not go into the mall without having to stop and talk to someone every five minutes. He was an incredible businessman, and my mom used to tell him that he could sell a ketchup popsicle to a woman in white gloves. I remember his laugh and the smell of Windex as he cleaned the house on early Saturday mornings. I always looked forward to seeing that bald shiny head and bright white smile pull up in the driveway on Thurdays at five o’clock. The day he didn’t show up, my heart broke.

It seems as if every little boy in the world has the wish to become a young man like his father, to grow up and hear the coveted words, “You are your father’s son.” To these such boys, a father is not simply the man who helped give birth to him and not just the man sitting across the supper table. He is a tall statue who deserves to be admired. He is a role model, an idol. My father was that and so much more in my mystified eyes.

My father was born on December 15, 1950, in Da Nang, a sleepy city located in Central Vietnam. His mother, my grandma, died when he was very little, so growing up, it was just him and his dad (my grandpa). Hearing my dad tell stories of him and Grandpa together brought to light just how much my grandpa meant to Dad. Every principle that Dad has taught me, he has learned from Grandpa. Sadly, that relationship was short-lived; my grandpa died when Dad was in high school. From the day his dad died to his high school graduation, Dad moved in with his uncle and his uncle’s family. Being the oldest member of his uncle’s children, Dad often had to take care of his cousins, juggling schoolwork with home responsibilities. The death of his parents so early in his life and the added responsibility of looking after his cousins meant that Dad had to grow up fast. In the time where most kids his age were exploring their surroundings and not having a care in the world, Dad was hard at work: tackling schoolwork and domestic chores at once. He tells me he had little time for sleep. After making sure all his cousins were in bed, Dad often stayed up until 3 in the morning, immersing himself in schoolwork. Then he would sleep until 6, and the day would repeat itself. Dad’s situation was not uncommon in Vietnam. Society in Vietnam expects the oldest male child in a family to carry the brunt of the workload among siblings: the one to help out the parents. They expected the child to juggle many

My immediate family is rather small, it consists of my Dad age 55, my Mom age 60 and myself age 21. All three of us are Caucasian. My Mom and Dad got married when they were much older, and they did not have me until they were 40 years of age. They are a little more traditional and they each take on their own roles in the family along with myself. My mother works Monday to Friday however she is the one who cooks the meals every evening, the one who cleans the house, does laundry and does the grocery shopping. My Dad works a longer day and makes the majority of our household income. He comes home and enjoys his evening watching the news and then sports. I go to school, work, and then I come home to a home cooked meal, and a clean house. The boundaries are fairly rigid in my household, my dad mostly stays away from the cooking, grocery shopping and cleaning as that is my mother’s role in the house and as much as she can complain about it I do believe she would be lost without it. There are only two subsystems identified in my family, they would be husband-wife, and parent-child.

5. My father holds the biggest impact in my life. You will hardly ever see him angry. He is a hard worker. He and my mother provide for the family. He takes extra shifts so we have money for “just in case”scenarios. My father when i think of a true dad, he will always pop up in my head. He is the stereotypical father. If something needs to get done he is the guy to go to. I can talk to him about anything. He has brought me up to be a gentleman. When my mother was having my sister I hardly saw my dad. Being young at the time i didn’t understand, but being older now, I now realize he worked everyday taking up extra hours so when my mom needed something the money would be there for her. He is a true man.

My dad is my hero, he goes by the name of Ray Williams. My dad is a preacher but not your typical preacher. Just because he is a preacher he doesn’t stop me from living my life and having fun that’s what I love about him. People always see my father as one of the “cool dads”. Some of the reason he is my hero is that he is strong, helpful, and always there for me. Trust and believe that's not even the half of it.

“Take care of you mother for me when I am gone,” and with that my once loving father climbs into his car, driving away. I watch as the car 's taillights glow in the dark, slowly becoming smaller and smaller. He’s gone.

My dad was a military doctor. He one of the bravest people you will ever meet. He did two full tours in afghanistan and saved many lives. He is my biggest inspiration. Having my dad in the military meant he was always gone and that really messed up our family but, he always told me: life is like a big wave that you are surfing and it can get polluted real fast but you just have to keep surfing through all the garbage that is tossed in your sea of worries.

HEAT 4.1 UNDERSTANDING THERMAL EQUILIBRIUM 1. Define: The measure of the degree of hotness of an object. (a) Temperature Measured in SI unit Kelvin, K A hot object is at a higher temperature than a cold object. Form of energy, measured in Joules, J (b) Heat Heat is transferred from hotter object (higher temperature) to colder object (lower temperature) When an object is heated, it will absorb heat energy and the temperature will increase. When an object is cooled, it will release heat energy and the temperature will decrease. (c) Thermal Two objects are in thermal contact when heat energy contact can be transferred between them. (d)Heat transfer When two objects with different degrees of hotness come into thermal contact, heat energy is