The day I came home to find my dad vacuuming cobwebs off the leaves in our backyard, I cried a little inside.

So, this is it. He’s officially senile.

Sure I laughed, cracked a few shameless jokes with my mom and even ran outside to shoot the incriminating photo you see here. But it didn’t take long for reality to take a fat bat to my heart.

It was something about the way he studied each leaf and thoughtfully brushed it with the detachable hose accessory. Watching him in his casual Saturday office attire — with his butt sagging, hairline long past receding (proof that Rogaine is a cruel means to swindle money from desperate balding 55-year-olds) — really got me thinking.
What happens to daughters when fathers turn from idols to just idle?

This man gave me airplane rides on his feet; he sacrificed an index finger so I could hold on to it while we walked; he taught me how to howl at the moon and fry my first egg; and especially to distrust every Korean male who talks to me. And now he was vacuuming our backyard.

This past holiday, my dad turned 57, and I was home to celebrate. His cake took five packs of birthday candles and three attempts to blow them out. But somehow he seemed younger than when I left him in the fall. Not that he’s turned into a youthful, hot old man, but that he’s become a big, old, wrinkly baby.

It all began during our trip to Target. Mom was out with the aunts, so it was my turn to amuse him. We split up to cover more ground. But he found me soon after carrying a windbreaker, insisting it was so “wa-tta” (really cool) that he had to have it because his other 500 North Face jackets were too bulky. I gave the potential purchase a once over, told him to think about it and parted ways.

While standing in the express lane, I saw him waddling toward me with an unsuspecting smile. He nonchalantly handed me the jacket, I paid the lady, and we silently waltzed out. I was so happy that he was so happy. And then it hit me. The roles had truly changed.

It’s my turn to take care of my dad, as he once did for me.

Granted, Korean parents are a strange breed, but they get old, too, just like the rest of them. And that’s when I come in. I guess they, too, need a little babying from their baby daughter, just like the rest of them.