That dream that felt so real. A tribute to a great man

A very good evening to all my readers out there. Sorry for not updating my blog for some time as i have been really really busy sorting out some personal stuff with my family since my dad passed away last month. I hope you guys are doing all good, besides being busy with assignments and exams etc.. since it's reaching the end of the year and nearing exams.

Let me first start this post of by asking you guys out there, have you ever had a dream where it felt so real?. Not those dreams where you have your favorite meal or find yourself fighting some dragon in castles and whatnot but dreams that find yourself in 10 years time or so doing something that you really love doing or someone you wanted to be since when you were a kid. When i was a kid to be honest, I had many dreams. Yes, loads of dreams! There's one time I wanted to be a football player and play for Liverpool and another i wanted a superhero and save the world just like how Superman or Spider man did. I used to think that superhero's like Superman and Spider Man really did existed. Yes, I mean it is great to have dreams which aspire you to become who you want to be but chase those dreams which you know can be achieved if you really work hard at it.

                                             


Before i get my dream started, I would like to dedicate this post to my late father, Mr Eric Khoo Teng Hai who lost his life to heart attack last month while enjoying a golf game with 24 of his close buddies. He is already greatly missed by all of us especially my mother and me. Things have been really hard for the family since he left us last month and we still could not accept his death and how he passed on. My dad has always been a really healthy man. He doesn't smoke nor drink but only when he has any social events, he watches his diet and he exercises. It still puzzles us how a man so fit like him would go at the cause of a heart attack.

Well, like most religion says, a persons death is already fated. The day we born into this earth and the day we took our last breath on this earth. We Buddhism believe, for the first 7 days of a person's passing, his or her soul would still remain with the family and you would encounter them for the first 7 days. And yes those believes were true. Honestly, before my dad's passing, I was rather sceptic and didn't believe all of this.During the first 7 days I actually encountered a lot and even seeing a glimpse of him watching the television. I also felt my dads presence a lot and whenever I would sort of have an encounter with him, the hairs on my hand would all stand up and I would get a very chilled feeling down my bones. It takes a lot for the hairs on the hand of a hairy man to stand up. Since my encounters with him, I really did believe in all of these believes that my religion says.

Last Sunday or Monday night if my mind serves me right to remember, I had a dream about my dad. I have been having loads of dreams about my dad since his passing but this dream in particular that I had really gave me motivation to aspire my dreams which made my dad proud. My dad was a very successful man where he touched many lives of his colleague as well as inspire them to strive for excellence in whatever they did. It really showed how much of an influence my dad really was with the huge turnouts of visitors coming to my place during the wake of my dad as well as on the funeral day it self. My dad was once one of the leading men of Mcdonald's Malaysia,when the franchise first started. He used to tell me stories about when the company first started and how much it has grown. I can proudly say this that my dad was the founder of the Prosperity Burger that Mcdonald's have towards the end and beginning of every year.

           

After leaving Macdonalds in the year 2000 since he started in 1986-87, he joined Starbucks Coffee Malaysia and later Berjaya Food And Franchise Berhad whereby he was in charge of Papa Johns, Wendey's, Krispy Kreme, Starbucks, and recently, an Italian Gellato ice cream chain called Ci-Gusta which was really famous in Italy. This is just a brief biography about my late father which I am really proud to share it with you guys.

During my dads funeral, I made a promise to him that I would one day walk in his footsteps and be someone very successful just like how he was with Mcdonalds and Berjaya. In this dream I had about him, I was much older. I would say maybe I was in my thirties as I had a mustache and I looked more matured. It was at this function whereby the employee's of Berjaya and Starbucks were getting their awards for best performance, stores which has the highest sales, etc. The ballroom was filled with all the employees looking stunning and dazzling as it was a very prestigious and formal event. I was seated at the very first table together with my dads colleagues whom he had worked with before during his time at Berjaya. I was called up on to the stage by the owner and founder of Berjaya, Tan Sri Dato' Seri Vincent Tan  who have worked very closely with my dad for the past 30 over years since Mcdonalds and also a dear friend to my father.
He told me in front of everybody present on how great my father was and how much of a legacy he built during his time with the company. He also told me how much of a man I was in terms of doing business just like my father once did and how much of an influence I was to the company. Shortly after, he told me that I was going to take over my dad in the same position that he once held just before he passed away. I was really really happy and I accepted it with all my heart.

As I was giving a speech about my dad and how much of an influence he is in my life and to the company, I saw him standing at my near right corner, smiling at me and clapping his hands. When I got down the stage, he told me that he was really really proud of me as a son and I kept my promise to him of becoming someone really successful and walking in his footsteps. And that was the dream I had which today has really gave me so much motivation to strive for excellence and to keep up to my promise that i made to him during the funeral.

My late father on the left

 I wish I had more pictures to show you guys but unfortunately I do not have as most pictures of him are on his Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/eric.hai.7. Above is a picture of him with some of my family members. Well, this is all for this post.Well, this is all for this post. Once again, this post is tributed to my late father and there is one thing I would like to say to you guys before I end this. Dreams really do come true. Do not let anyone tell you what you can't do or what you can't achieve in the future cause deep down only you can decide on whether you really want your dreams to come true :).