In Loving Memory
Katie Lee
“You will be a great doctor someday,”
The professor is smiling while
I watch the film, cannonballs fired in my father’s lungs
They ricochet through his chest but
fall tidily into lessons of compassion, loss.
“That will be great to talk about in an interview,”
The applicant is envious while
I see past the portrait of a father, without a child
Bullets tear through tissue but
stitch neatly into leadership, duty.
“I will be a great doctor one day,”
The reflection is rippling while
light refracts through cracks, a kaleidoscope of loss
Images of grief shift but
piece together as resilience, wisdom.
For my father, Michael Yunha Lee, a man who loved watching the sunset on a golf course, reading about the Roman Empire, journaling, eating spicy foods, and most of all, laughing with his children.
He “washed his socks while it was raining” and loved to be silly – like wearing a white jacket to my White Coat Ceremony!
My dad was a single father who raised me and my brother to define success as happiness.
He was my greatest supporter, and I am so proud I get to call him my dad.
He was a loving father and a happy man, who will live forever in my heart.
