Will I See You Again, Dad, If We Went to Different Heavens?

My plans for a celestial reunion, as an atheist

Lisa Lau
9 min readSep 12, 2024
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

With extreme exhaustion and bated breath, my father murmured in Cantonese, “Amen.”

I handed the bowl of water I had filled from the bathroom to the pastor. He spritzed some water on my father’s head, recited a few more scripture verses, and said, “Amen.”

My dad, mustering his remaining strength, drew a deep and purposeful breath, and finally huffed out, “Amen.”

And so, after a lifetime of not belonging to any organized religion, my father was baptized as a Christian, a day before he passed.

After the baptism, my father drifted into the deepest, most peaceful sleep he had experienced in weeks.

I thanked the pastor for coming in such short notice, and escorted him out.

I went back to check on my father—he looked so serene, so beautiful.

I stroked his impressive crown of gray hair that regrew even fuller after chemotherapy. Since then, no cancer treatment could threaten his hair into retreat.

I tucked his blanket around him to ensure he was cozy, and then busied myself with his medication schedule and making phone calls.

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Lisa Lau
Lisa Lau

Written by Lisa Lau

Insomniac, knowledge thrill-seeker, leisure and cathartic writer

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