It’s that time of the year where we all
stop rolling our eyes at our dad and celebrate everything he’s done for us, to
us, around us, and with us. We post pictures of our dad’s through the years,
usually a picture of us with our dad, and talk about what a wonderful human
being/teacher/protector he’s been. Unless of course your dad was a deadbeat who
left your mom in a cloud of dust one fall day and never came back, those guys
they are bitter and want no part of this day, at least until they become a
father then they celebrate it with gusto! So in an effort to breathe life back
into this blog I’m participating in the obligatory Father’s Day post, join me
by sharing some observations of your own father!
It’s ironic to me that I have two
parents who are totally involved, totally present, and yet hate the idea of
either Father’s Day or Mother’s Day. Both think it’s an absurd holiday not
worth putting on a calendar much less the time and effort spent to celebrate
it. See my mom’s dad was MIA most of her life. He was that dad that left when
she was younger and never really looked back. She’s not sad about it … it was
just her reality. I never met him and she doesn’t talk about him. My dad’s dad
died when he was a pre-teen (or a tween as some call it now a days, not me mind
you, but others who should be punished for doing so). So neither of them really
celebrated Father’s Day growing up, it was just another day on the calendar and
when my brother and I were born it was a foreign day to them. They aren’t
stupid they knew the concept they understood the purpose it just wasn’t for
them. Or so I thought.
Several years ago we were cleaning out
the attic and I pulled down a box marked “KIDS” which I assumed were me and my
brother not a box containing information about my dad’s other family. Full
disclosure my dad has no other family but sometimes my over active imagination
got the better of me when he was on business trips. I always assumed he left
that family and came back to us cause we were cooler tho it wasn’t really
discussed. Anyway I opened the box and
found years of handmade and bought Father’s Day cards with my name or my
brother’s writing on the back of the card with the year. It was then that I
realized that no matter what he said the day did mean something to him and thus
the effort we put into it did too.
My dad didn’t miss much, yes he worked
hard, often staying at work until well past nightfall and would have to go out
of town sometimes but he made more
baseball/softball/basketball/volleyball/tennis and even soccer games than most
dads did, and I have the video tapes to prove it. He made both my brother and I
“videos” of our greatest sports moments using “put me in coach” and synced it
with the song. To this date it’s the greatest piece of ciema I’ve ever seen. :D
Dad also spent his vacations working
around the house, which meant we worked around the house. I thought my dad was
brilliant, he could do anything with his hands, from building furniture to
doing electrical work. He often had us follow him around as he did these things
I guess hoping that we’d learn how to do those things too via osmosis. He was
not entirely wrong but the truth is we were more in the way than we were
helping. He’d send us for this tool or another and sometimes we’d bring it
back, but he always accomplished whatever with whatever we brought him. He is
real resourceful that way.
My dad is also crazy smart about technology;
he is the one who brought e-mail to his company. His boss told him at the time
that “email was a fad” but dad insisted it was the way people would be doing
business years from now. Now every employee in the company has e-mail even the
summer interns, often before they are even assigned a computer. He can do
anything to a computer, and always has the best technology available. Heck
every computer within a 2 mile radius of him is eagerly waiting and is 100% compatible
with Windows 10 all because of him.
The point is that like a lot of you I’d
not be here without my dad and I’m glad I have the dad that I do, even in those
instances where he is driving me insane with his views of politics or his ideas
on “life.”
A Father’s Day post can’t be completed
without Golden saying something about her awesome dad. Her dad is a lot like my
dad he’s hardworking at work and at home, he’s knowledgeable about many things
and is constantly doing things to make their family’s lives better. I’m proud he’s a father figure in my life and I’m
happy when I get to sit next to him at the table and talk to him, a rare feat
actually cause he talks very little.
So Golden wanted to add this …
Thanks
for always being my lawn care professional, my maintenance man, my squancher of
bugs, my griller of meat, my fixer of cars, my weather man, cheerleader, my
constant protector, my dad.
So to all the dad’s out there … HAPPY FATHER’S
DAY!!! I hope you were celebrated in some way, shape, or form, and that someone
else manned the grill for you today!
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Marcy's Dad filming a softball game many years ago
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| Golden's Dad introducing her to her brother many years ago |
-Marcy & Golden
