Father's Day is approaching, and it is a father's day without a father, and my thoughts are like raindrops flying in the summer sky, bit by bit turning into an endless thought. At this time, I deeply remembered my father who was far away in heaven.
My father died at the age of 80 and has been away from us for 5 years. My father didn't have many hobbies when he was alive, and in my memory, my father liked to wear a railway uniform. From the time of his understanding, every time my father returned to his hometown to visit his relatives, he always wore a blue Zhongshan-style uniform unique to railway people, and the uniform was inlaid with five copper buttons with railway logos, and the buttons refracted dazzling light when walking in the sun, attracting attention. His father walked in the village in uniform, as if he had returned home, making his former friends envious and regretting that he had become a deserter.
My father worked as a road keeper at the bottom of the railway for a lifetime, and of course wore a railway uniform all his life, and he had a deep affection for the railway. Born in a poor family, his father lost his father from a young age, and he and his mother depended on each other for their lives, and when they just turned eighteen, they joined the army with their partners in the same village, and after retiring from the army, they entered the construction of the Wuhan University Line Railway Project. Listening to my father, the working and living conditions at that time were very difficult, living in the activity accounting room, eating in the collective canteen, carrying a pickaxe all year round, and doing the same tiring work as farming. Several comrades-in-arms who came with their father at that time could not bear the heavy physical labor and quietly left the unit. But my father did not, because he knew that no matter how hard and tired he was, he could still eat enough and keep his uniforms cold.
Figure: From the network, independent of the text
After I joined the work, on the contrary, I did not like to wear uniforms, but I gradually understood that this blue railway uniform hid my father's love for ordinary work. Although the shade of color constantly changes with the change of seasons, what remains unchanged is the father's persistent feelings. This divine blue has been deeply burned in the spring, summer, autumn and winter of each year, and has grown up with me all the way.
Due to the needs of work, his father successively worked as a road maintenance worker on the Wuhan University Line, The Handan Line, and the Jiaoliu Line. In this way, my father always put the overall situation first, obeyed the organization's arrangements, was seriously responsible for the work, worked diligently, worked as a road maintenance worker all his life, and never had any driving safety problems. The father had no accidents in his life, and the father had no stories in his life. In fact, in that innocent era, how many older generations of railway workers like their fathers silently and selflessly dedicated their youth and sweat for the early development of the railway industry.
Later, when my father reached retirement age, his entire family property was only two wooden boxes. My father did not have an inch of his own real estate in the unit and lived a life of separation for many years. Two rustic boxes stored all of my father's uniforms and some daily necessities, when I left the unit, I didn't even check in, my father and I went back and forth, one box per person, and my father did the simplest handover under the sky.
Figure: From the network, independent of the text
When my father returned to his hometown, he still liked to wear the blue railway uniform as before, but the years had dyed his former black hair white frost. After I took over my father's job, whenever the unit issued a new railway uniform, I would give a set to my father. Father was happier than he had received any gift, and the old man put the railway uniform on his body, and his face rippled with happiness. In fact, I know that it is my father's attachment to the railway, the unique feelings for the railway.
It's been four years since my father left us. I remember when my father died in the hospital, he was still wearing an old-fashioned blue uniform that was washed white. My father was tired and walked away so peacefully, even with a smile on his face.
In recent years, I have also written many small articles about my father on an intermittent basis, recalling the details of my life with my father, and the words made me understand the love of an ordinary railway worker for his work and his love for his family. My father has no family property left for us, but my father is like a beacon on my life path, and with his company and guidance, I will not lose my way.
About the Author
Xu Zhiqiang: Member of China Railway Writers Association, China Essay Association, Hubei Photographers Association
Xu Zhiqiang, a native of Wuxue, is currently the secretary of the party branch of the Xiangyang North Railway Station Workshop of the Wuhan Bureau of China Railway, and has published several literary works in publications inside and outside the road such as "People's Railway News", "Wuhan Railway News", "Fei chi", "Chutian Metropolis Daily", "Xiangyang Daily", "Xiangyang Evening News" and so on. Life is endless, art is endless, and thought is endless. In the process of exploration, the real value is not spectacular, but rich and full. No matter which step you climb, the act of indomitable, jealous and good is in itself a comfort to the soul. The grace of dripping water, the spring repays each other. Standing up to the faithful, honest and emotional, sincerity and goodness to the truth, rather than for the jade to break the power and wealth. The road is long and the road is long, and I will seek up and down. I firmly believe that I love photography, love writing, do not regret it, and photograph or write the truth, goodness and beauty around me.
Photography: All provided by Xu Zhiqiang except for dengming's provenance
Editor: Zerun Shengmin