Letter to My Sons #12

Dear sons,

Vương: I hope you get well soon. I missed seeing your smiles. I missed watching you running around and jumping on the coach. It is heartbreaking to see you inactive and not wanting mommy’s milk. It is so not like you. Sorry, if I indeed passed my germs onto you. I feel terrible and I love you.

Xuân: You’re amazing fast. You picked up Vietnamese tunes and sang along just like that. You are so competitive trying to catch up with your older brothers. You can make them mad simply using words you’ve learned. I love introducing you to new words because you remember them so quick. You apply them as soon as you can. I can’t wait to teach you to read. Please be patience with me. I still need to work with your brother Đán. Once he is ready to read on his own, I’ll focus on you.

Đán: We finished Janet Tashjian’s My Life as a Meme. To be honest, I have no clue what the book is about, but I am glad that we read through 232 pages together. Although you don’t like reading, you did it to please me. I appreciate your effort and I am happy to see your reading has improved tremendously. I hope that your charming personality doesn’t become inferior. Your mom and I worried that you have felt inferior to Đạo, your cousin, and your friends. You should not have to feel inferior and should not have to please anyone. You can be nice to them, but you don’t need to please them. You’re a sweet boy, but don’t let people take advantage of your sweetness.

Đạo: We haven’t forgotten about you. We understand how you feel being the oldest kid in the family. You feel like we don’t care about you and that we’ve always sided with the little ones. They are younger than you; therefore, we rely on you to help us out. Xuân can get on your nerves, but he is still a baby. He argues quite well for a three-year-old because of you. He learns the most from his older brothers. Didn’t I tell you if you treat him well he would follow you? When you act nice to him, he wanted to sit next to you and play with you. I know you are very smart and I also know when you say things you didn’t mean from your heart.

Love,

Daddy