Kien


 * Back to the sea**


 * Peaceful, is the best word I could use to describe my life back in those days when I was living at my hometown near the sea. It was not really a marvelous place where I could see beautiful sunsets in the sea, or a sparkling beach under the sun but it had all of my memories.**


 * Everything in my life has a connection with the sea. I was born with the sound of the waves, grew up with the fish swimming around the shore or the sea birds flying in the sky everyday. When I was young, I lived peacefully. My town is located about a mile away from the seashore. Since I was young, I had to wake up early in the morning, repare everything and start a day with my father walking to the sea. Together, throughout my childhood, I caught the fish with my father everyday. I was a great time for me.**


 * My** **family was poor and sometimes we had to struggle for a living. It was a time when we could not catch any fish because of a long-term tropical storm. We had to use the amount of food we stored and the money we had as little as possible. At first, I thought we could not pass, but my father once said: "As long as we don't give up, son!", and after a half month, the storm had gone and we survived. What my father said to me was a great encouragement. I've also learned lots of things from him. He is the man I adore the most.**


 * Apart from the sadness and the difficulties in life, I was really happy. I was proud to be a member of my own family. Because I'm the only child, I received a lot of love and care form my father. My mother passed away when I was a baby. Therefore, my father is the only relative I have. Since there are only two of us living together, I had to start working at a very young age. It was my destiny, to live and join with the sea.**


 * People are changing as the time is moving forward. So am I. When I was just a kid, for everything that had happened, I thought I loved the life that I had been living very much. But when I was a little bit older, I was different. I felt bored with my life, with the sea. To be more honest, I was the poverty that made me felt bored. I asked my father once: "Dad, I want to live in the city!" and he responded: "It is not about where you want to live, but where you will live happily, my son!" I was frustrated. All I wanted was to leave the coastal life.**


 * My father could see the changes in me. My enthusiasm for the everyday had gone. I walked to the sea with my father, tiredly catching fish. One day, my father came to me and said: "You really want to leave this place, son?" I saw that was a great opportunity for me, I replied, without hesitance: "Yes, Dad". He took a minute thinking, the he looked at me, sadly smiled: "I'll let you go". I was really excited and happy, I was thinking about the city all the time afterward, without noticing the tears in my father's eyes.**


 * A few day later, I packed up everything and moved to the city with my father. After hours searching, we found a quite comfortable place to live. My father gave me a plenty of money and said: "Live happily, son!" I smiled: "Sure dad, thanks for everything, goodbye!" He smiled, came to gave me a hug and then left. At that time, I was 18, with no knowledge and my life was turning to a different road.**


 * For the first few days, I wandered around the city, trying to find a job. It was a pity for me as I did not have a chance to study. However, fortunately, I found a job as a guard for a company because I had quite a good body because of all the years I had been working hard in the past.**


 * My father wrote to me once a month. I had many things when replying him. I told him many things I had experienced. He always asked me, in every single letter I received, if I was living happily or not.**


 * I was a smart person. During the time I was a guard. I asked questions and learned about what my company was doing. I improved my knowledge dad by day. I was attracted to the boss. He asked me if I want to be his student. I couldn't let this opportunity go for sure. I worked as a guard in the morning, then I came to learn about business at my boss' house. My knowledge improved a lot. He looked satisfied as he had chosen the right person. After a year, he nominated me to the manager as an employee. From that time, my career had a big step forward.**


 * For a bigger step, I got a date with N. She was the manager's daughter and it was a great luck I had. I was having too much happy with my current life. Therefore, I forgot about the life that I was living before. I forgot to reply my father's letters. I did not know if he was sad or not but after that, the joy that I was having made me forget about him.**


 * After 2 years of hard working, I was about to be promoted as a vice-manager and I was engaged to N ! All of the happiest things are about to come to my life. On the day I was promoted, I got a call from my hometown, my father was really sick and he needed to see me. I hesitated. I was an important day of my life as I had been working really hard for two years. After a moment, I decided not to come back to see my father. After that day, I was wondering if he was fine or not. However, I soon got married to N and my marriage life with the business works made my worried faded.**


 * My happiness didn't last long. Five years later, my company's profit was reducing a lot each year and it was bankrupt. I owed a lot of money. My wife left me to follow another man who could gives her money. I lost everything; my job, my property, my wife and my life. I had to go to jail because I could not pay the money.**


 * After a year in the prison, I was released. I cam back to my hometown a few hours ago. It is so different now. My house was destroyed by the government to release the space in the town because my father passed away years before. I cried a lot. I was so regret about what I had done. But I never had a chance to change it.**


 * I sit down on the beach, throwing my eyes into the sky. I miss those days when I was a little kid running around the shore, telling my father that I caught a really good fish. My life does really have a connection to the sea. It is like the life of the sea birds. They fly around, from the sea to the ocean, all over the sky. But where would they go?...**