Missing
Leaving
We often see somebody off, we know that it’s time to go. But we can’t stop his leaving and we’re sad. I dream he will come back in few days and we can get together. It’s sad but not hopeless. Maybe many memories are blurred, but the last time I saw my father that day. In my memory, I can’t go away. I don’t know how many times the dream goes back to the grand central where my father left. When I was 6 years old that it was the late fall of 1973, the leaves have turned yellow, drifting profusely and disorderly falling on the ground, like a layer of yellow carpet on the street. The autumn wind blows, almost into the winter. No one wants to stay on the road, full of hurried pedestrians. It is the time to say goodbye to my father like the leaves fall apart from the trees. Father mother and I came to the grand central. This is my first-time step to this huge place. Noisy environment, crowded people. The wounded and parting atmosphere of the war years filled the entire Grand Central. Here is the busiest train station in the country. Looking around, people are rushing to chasing the trains.There are a lot of garbage, and here is the home for the homeless. We can obviously see the wall and ceiling become sallow and fall apart. Newspaper randomly scattered on the ground. The crying and noisy sound make me a headache. Looking at my father. He dressed neatly in a dark military green uniform. Holding the heavy package he seems so confident. Mom’s expression was more serious than usual, and her stiff face made me have a bad feeling. I know that this military action is much more devious, even for a 6- year-old girl. I also know that this is a sad thing. Perhaps during this time, I could not hear my father’s bedtime story again. I silently shed tears. Dad touched my head and said, “Look up at the ceiling. When you finish counting the stars on the ceiling, Dad will be back”. I looked up at the ceiling and the blurry murals could have imagined the original. I silently believed in this promise, keeping it in mind. “ Let’s get the ticket”. Mom said. Followed by the father and mother came to the ticket office.I cherish this last period of time with my father. I clutched his clothes corner tightly. “I need to count the stars faster”. I thought in my heart.There are many people waiting in line. I hope that time will always stay at this moment. But the reality is cruel, it is time to say goodbye. Come to the entrance, there are two trains beside. Unhealthy soot and smog coughed up by the steam locomotives crisscrossing. Dad picked me up and kissed my forehead. Mom looked at him in dismay face, shed tears said: “Be safe, I will wait for you to go home” He gave mom a hug and picked up the bag. “I’ll love you guys forever”. This is the last word before he left. Looking at his figure going away and gradually disappear…
The Bad news
As the years passed, I often looked at the stars on the ceiling. The station became more prosperous every year. But I never waited for my father to return. I often thought about what my father had said to my mother before he left. He said I would love you forever, dear father, and my mother and I miss you very much. But when will our family be reunited? I often go to the station to watch the children of other people’s children pick up their father at the station. I envy the way their family is happy, but every time I wait at the station, I get disappointed again and again. I never saw my father come back. When I went to the station, I was looking forward to it and I was very happy. However, watching the train passing by, but never saw my father’s figure, so I was disappointed to return, after the countless wait, I have become accustomed to it, However, I am still looking forward to seeing my father at the station one day. Back home, looking at my father’s photo, I always think of it on the battlefield of the look of majesty, from small to large, my father is the hero in my mind. Like an omnipotent superman, he gave my mother and me a sense of security and a guardian of our family. My father is the English in my mind Male. However, this hero has been away from me for a long time. Does he know how much I miss him? Do you know that there is a child waiting for him to return to the distant home? Whenever I miss my father very much, I always polish his favorite belt, and I hope my father will see him at first sight when he leaves home. We carefully protected everything about him. Show her what she means to this family. Let him know how important he is to us. I had no idea how many stars on the roof of grand central had been counted. Over and over again. Come to this place all the time, I am very familiar with some here, the people come and go noisy sound, mixed with all kinds of food perspiration air, I have been in the crowd to explore the father’s figure, I wish I could see his kind figure as soon as I turned around, and then pulled him home quickly to tell my mother the good news of my father’s safe return. I even rehearsed this scene in my heart countless times, imagining that after seeing my father, should I tell him that I got the first grade in my class again, or helped my mother share the housework. I want to let my father witness my growing up to know my life, but my father did not accompany me. After this time, but I do not resent him, I know he is in the completion of great work, he is always my most respected hero, I have a feverish superstition to my father, I believe he will come back safely! Until one day bad news suddenly came, it was a normal day, but it was the darkest day of my life. I received a letter conveying the news of my father’s death. I don’t believe it, but I can’t do anything about it. My father left us, and the hero who grew up with me in my mind left us, and on that day I felt my world crumbling. My father left me like this, and when I saw his green coat, I had to accept my father’s departure. At the central station, I met my father’s return and witnessed his departure. Even in this place. Fang I received the sad news that my father had left us. I hated grand central. It was this place that took my father and my hero, and since then I have rarely gone to the central station. Because this place carried so many memories that I could not face. But life went on after my father left, and it seemed that I had grown up suddenly. I was no longer tired of my mother’s advice and offered to help her bear the burden of family life. I seldom complain to my mother about my own affairs. I often tell her what I have achieved. I’ve been working hard for the pain of life. Bear it yourself, because in my heart I know maybe my mother’s heart is more painful. Although my father has left, but my mother still has me, I want to let mother know that I will take good care of myself like father and bear the burden of family.
Hope
Even though days, months and years have passed by, I still don’t hear much about my father. Even a single clue of him have shown up for me. However, deep inside of me still believes that my father is alive somewhere, safe and happy. I know this is my will to think of, and It might seem too late to remember what my father looked like, but I can highly tell myself that I remember him through my skin. His shiny smile when he looked at me, his smell when he hugged my whole body with his big two arms. The touch of his big hands when he scrubbed my face with, his sky large back below the desk light that I saw through my bedroom. Every single moment is still alive in me since that day so I believe he is alive. Many years have passed and now I’m almost the same age as my father when I was young. When I was in junior, I decided to go the school where my father graduated. It was a hard choice to make when I decided to go to my father’s school because it was too risky since the school was a high reach for me. I believed in my father and the god who took my father from me and prayed. Now, I’ve graduated the same school that my father graduated and my name has been up right next to my father on the school wall as a student scholar. Today is a very special day for me. It is my very first time to get to meet my friend from outside of work who is about the same age as my father if he was with me. I met her at one of my first day getting a party at my first job after my graduation. I’m not sure if this is because of my father’s absence, I feel much more comfortable when I get along with aged people compared to myself. Maybe I wanted to fulfill my emptiness with this. The way she thinks and sees the world was much more opened than any other aged people I’ve ever met and I think that is my I became friends with her since that day. However, one of the biggest reason that I became friends with her is the way she talks makes me think about my father a lot. Every word that she speaks was full of confidence and positivity. She always cheered and helps others to make for everyone’s goods. We had to be apart when she started to get weaker and weaker and eventually had to quit her job and retire and I’m now walking to pick her up. As I said, today is a special day because it is my first time to meet her outside of work but there is one more reason why I think it is special. Today is my first time to visit grand central since that day. I was too afraid and sad. I couldn’t control my emotions when I even think about going to the station because I can’t stop thinking about my father and affected me a lot both inside and outside of me. My friend kept on asking if I was sure with the decision I made because she was worried if I pass out. I have thought to myself thousands and thousands of times and I made up my mind. If I miss my father and love him, I believe that I can get over it with my love and I think loving someone is embracing their everything. Even sad memories. I soon entered the door and gasped. Everything changed a lot compared with my old memories. Just like the memories with my father. Hundreds and hundreds of people walked passed by like if the beautiful shining siling was hypothesizing them to go to their loving ones. I was completely lost and my head to black enough think nothing but to just stand there. I stood my head straight not to get lost. That moment, I’ve faced one man, standing just like me. A skinny man with dirty clothes but he didn’t seem dirty at all. We stared each other doing nothing but standing still with our face stoked. I made my first step more, one step further inside.
Meeting
When I pass the homeless guy, I wonder if he would be my father. The man is hoary and old. Will my father be like him now? Will my father’s hair be white? Will my father’s eyes be dizzy? I kept thinking. I couldn’t stop my tears falling down my face. I do not know how my father is going now. Will he miss us? Will he be a homeless guy? I stared at homeless guy quietly, and at this moment, he looked back at me. “Can you lend me a light?” The homeless guy said slowly. I am really surprised. Thousands of thoughts come out within a second. Lend him a light? Does he know my story? Will he be my father? He knows the story in this light? My brain keeps thinking about it, but I know that I shouldn’t think so. How could it be so coincidental? Perhaps I miss my father so much that I doubt every man who looks like him even just a little could be the man. He just needs a light. I say sure and give my light to him. The homeless guy takes the light and looks at it carefully for a long time. His eyes were wet. I feel my heart is jumping so fast that it seems to jump out. Is he really my father? Why he borrows light from me? After the homeless guy uses my light, he gives it back to me. I take the light back with tens of thousands of thoughts and emotions. How I wish that this person in front of me could be my father! “Thank you very much!” the homeless guy says to me. “You’re welcome!” With a variety of thoughts, the homeless guy and I separate to different directions. Later, I thought, whether he is my father or not, he is a homeless guy. He must have someone he misses and loves, and I have such a person just like him. As the old saying goes, people don’t only love their own relatives, and people don’t only love their own children alone. From another aspect, helping him equals to helping my father because the homeless guy is also the father of someone else. I think the homeless guy must think so, too. I hope he is my father. I give him my love, and he also has the same feeling as me. Although I have not yet found my father, and parting is the saddest and most helpless thing in the world, I will still wait and look for my father. How I wish my love and thoughts could bring my father back. Separating from loved ones is always heart-wrenching. Although I am not a homeless guy, I am always in a despondent mood. How happy it is to be able to be with loved ones. Every time when I see those warm families, I am extremely envious because I will probably never have such warmth and happiness again. If one day my mother and I can reunite with my father, I think I will be madly thrilled. Although I don’t know where my father is, whether my father will come back, and I cannot find my father now, I will still wait and always pray for my father, my family.
Grand Central Terminal Interview:
For this project, we separated into different groups. we created a story based on the stories of different people we interviewed in grand central. Through interviews, we obtained lots of interesting and different information. We met a homeless guy who was a soldier. People were rushing to chasing the trains, no one wants to help us. The homeless guy just came over and helps us. After we interview an old lady who is going to see her friend join the wedding.
Inspiration:
Our group discusses those two interviews and created a new setting.In our story, grand central is an important place, so we decided to image our memory box as a grand central hall. I suggested using the form of Ames room. The concept of our story is the timeline. By querying some videos, we found that Ames room was very suitable to show our story.
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The process :
After we decided to make the Ames room. We made a little model see how its worked. We will decorate the inside with a dreamy sense. Outside will be old and dirty. That can make a contrast between the old grand central and the new grand central. Also can express the feeling of the daughter and the old homeless guy. In our group separated equally to do our own parts. We used different stickers to decorate the interior and also used the stars on the top of Grand central canopy as elements. We made two protagonists in the form of painting and intended to make these two protagonists movable to show the encounter and departure of the protagonists.The character represents the daughter and her father. For the outside of the memory box, according to our story, we wanted to contrast the internal fancy with the external dirty. After the decorating of the room. We folded them together like little room.
Final:
The main idea of our project is to see how the perspective change over time. The Ames room actually worked for this idea. The characters stick with the magnets can moving in the box. Same position but different size. Also we put the little lights in side of the box, makes it more dreamy and fancy. Although there are many problems in the process, in the end, we basically achieved the our main idea.
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