Had dinner with my parents, sister and brother-in-law near my studio last night.  In our conversations, we shared our memories of late Mr. Kot who passed away on Christmas Eve.  Apparently, my dad had known this good friend since 1986, that’s more than 30 years of friendship!  As for me, my earliest memory of Mr. Kot is probably in the 90s when I came back to HK to study high school.  Mr. Kot’s family and my family would often bump into each other during our weekly family dim sum lunch on Sundays, Mr. and Mrs. Kot would usually praise how good of a teenager I was (probably out of courtesy), and I usually just return with a polite smile as I could never find the right words to respond.

One of the more fond memories I have of Mr. Kot was one time when his family visited Toronto.  I remember driving his family to lunch at my friend’s uncle’s Vietnamese restaurant, he was very happy and satisfied as he said they never had a decent meal during the past few days in Toronto, and I was happy for being a good host to my dad’s good friend.

One of my more recent memories of Mr. Kot is probably last summer when I joined my parents and their friends on a cruise trip to Japan.  Mr. Kot was one of the quieter ones among my dad’s friends, but I could tell that he really enjoyed that trip.  I remember strolling in the Japanese shops with him and he buying souvenirs for his grand kids while telling me how he remembered everyone of his family members’ birthdays.

My dad said Mr. Kot was just in his early 60s, even younger than my late uncle who passed away earlier this year.  I feel sorry for not having the opportunity to say a last goodbye to Mr. Kot.