The Gift My Dad Gave Me - And How I'm Passing it On 🎁💻

Today I’m thinking of my dad on his birthday 🎂 and celebrating the ways he shaped who I am today. One of the greatest gifts he ever gave me changed my curiosity, my career, my cancer adventure and ultimately my life.

He gave me the gift of technology 🌐✨.

It’s still quite ironic to me, because he was afraid of technology, could barely turn a computer on… and he never owned a smartphone 📱.

Yet somehow, he was a futurist long before anyone used that word. He could see where the world was heading in a way most people couldn’t.

The First Computer 🖥️

He bought our first family computer. I think it was originally meant for my brother, but my brother never used it. So it became mine.

It didn’t change my life all at once. It began with something incredibly simple: I wanted to play Monopoly on the computer 🎲.

To get the game working, I had to learn MS-DOS — those black screens with blinking white text that looked like secret codes (If you don't know what it is... ask your parents...) 👀. I still remember typing in commands, hoping I got them right, not knowing if the whole computer might suddenly crash 💥.

But I quickly learned that technology was just a fun game to play 🎮. A bit like life really — you couldn’t really break it, and the best way to learn was to explore it, experiment, and figure out solutions when things went wrong 🛠️.

Those little moments, sitting at that old computer, became the start of a lifelong curiosity. Nerdy? Absolutely — Steve Urkel would have approved 🤓. Learning MS-DOS wasn’t just about launching a game — it was the beginning of lessons that shaped my problem-solving, resilience, and understanding of the world 🌍.

What Technology Opened Up For Me 🚀

Playing with that computer taught me resilience and curiosity 💡. I learned to approach challenges without fear, experiment with hardware, troubleshoot software, and set up networks and internet connections 🌐. That hands-on learning built my confidence and opened my eyes to opportunities I had never imagined.

That computer and the ones that followed gently opened up a thousand doors:

• It led me to building my first websites 🖱️.

• It showed me the world through other people’s stories and visits to my website 🖼️.

• It gave me access to global connections long before social media existed 🌏.

• It helped me get my last-minute assignments in for university — even if I still had to hand a paper copy in! 📄

• It allowed me to work with global organisations from all over the Asia Pacific region ✈️.

• It gave me a window and a connection to the outside world during a global pandemic 🏠.

• It allowed me to stop the commute by working from home and eventually shape the career I have today 💼.

• It encouraged me to explore A.I. and new ideas long before they became mainstream 🤖.

• It became something I could bond over with my husband, as he works in IT, sharing curiosity, challenges, and ideas together 💑.

• And so much more.... 

When the cancer adventure entered my life, technology became one of the tools that helped support and save my life ❤️.

How A.I. Supported My Cancer Adventure 🩺

At times, A.I. acted like my at home 24/7 global oncologist — an additional member of my cancer care team 🌐💊. It helped me interpret information and gain a deeper, more detailed understanding of cancer, both generally and in my specific situation 🧬. It led me to find innovative, cutting-edge cancer-detecting blood work that isn’t even available in Australia 🩸, which meant I didn’t have to undergo chemotherapy at this time 🙏 .

Thus it supported me to have a better quality of life and supported a faster recovery from cancer 🌈.

Technology — combined with compassionate, smart, respectful, deeply human doctors — gave me the greatest gift: more quality life, and more time ⏳❤️.

Yes, technology can be misused. Anything powerful can be. But that isn’t a technology problem — that’s a humanity problem 🌎.

We’re Living in a Time of Radical Change ⚡

Change can feel overwhelming 😰. But my dad taught me something profound: to love technology 💻💖.
Even though he was afraid of it and never really learned to use it himself 😅, he could see it was part of the future — and he encouraged me to learn it, explore it, and embrace it 🌟.

And maybe — just maybe — some of our biggest human challenges (like cancer) will fade more quickly as the right people choose to be leaders and use technology with kindness, creativity, and courage.

That’s the gift my dad gave me: Explore it. Play with it. Let it teach you 🚀.

Passing the Gift On 🎉

So today, in honour of my dad 🎂, I want to pass that gift on to you.

Try a piece of technology you’ve been avoiding 📱. Open that app 📲. Record that video 🎥. Start that website 🌐. Play that game 🎮. Have a chat with A.I. 🤖 — even if you’re not sure what to ask.

You never know where that tiny moment of curiosity might lead you… 🌟

Who you might meet 👥… What ideas might arrive 💡… What opportunities might open ✨…

I was given the ultimate gift possible — an extended, meaningful, beautiful life ❤️🌈.

And maybe the gift of technology will open something extraordinary for you too 🎁.

So today, for my dad…

Go explore 🌍. Go learn 📚. Go play 🎲.

Take that first step with technology, follow your curiosity, and see where it leads 🔑.

You might discover new passions, meet amazing people 🌟, or open doors you never imagined — just like my dad showed me 💖.

P.S. This is the season of gifting 🎁. Perhaps consider giving a tech gift to someone in your life — you never know what doors it might open or what passions it could spark for them.