Categories
Website design By BotEap.comIt seems that we treat fathers, both ours and the father of our children, differently on their Special Day than we treat mothers on Mother’s Day. Maybe it’s because we’re wired differently. (I mean, seriously, when was the last time the man in your life asked for flowers, chocolate, and dinner out? And do men eat chocolate?) But breakfast in bed, whether it’s just piping hot coffee served with The New York Times, equals that cake and strawberries covered in whipped cream we ordered on our mom’s tray. I have found that men deeply appreciate any simple gesture of love made on their behalf. The little morning romp my kids had with their dad today (with coffee, handmade cards, poems, and wrapped gifts) did more to get him going than anything else we could have done. He would say, “We won’t forget you this year, Dad.” (Honestly, we forgot a couple of years ago…)
Website design By BotEap.comFather’s Day has its origin in Mother’s Day. When a thoughtful Sonora Louise Smart Dodd listened to a sermon on Mother’s Day, she felt that fathers deserved as much appreciation and attention, even for a day, as mothers. She approached her minister in Spokane, Washington in 1909, with the idea of a special Father’s Day sermon in memory of her own father, William Smart. Widowed during the birth of his sixth child, William was a single father to that newborn baby and the couple’s five older children. Now that she was an adult herself, Dodd fully appreciated the personal sacrifices her father made during those many years of child-rearing, and she wanted to honor him in June, the month of her birth. Since her minister couldn’t respond quickly enough to honor her exact birthday (June 5), she scheduled her father’s thank you sermon for the 19th, or the third Sunday in June.
Website design By BotEap.comAnd so the first Father’s Day sermon was preached on June 19. Other historians claim that Dr. Robert Webb celebrated the first Father’s Day at the Central Church in Fairmont, West Virginia in 1908; still others claim that the gold watch inscribed “Original of Father’s Day” belonging to Harry Meek entitles him to the holiday. However, in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson officially approved the idea, in 1924 President Calvin Coolidge officially endorsed it, and in 1966, President Lyndon Johnson officially issued a presidential proclamation marking the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day. But it was not until 1972 that it was declared a national holiday. And, interestingly, it is a uniquely American holiday; other countries celebrate it, but only in America do they place it on our national calendar.
Website design By BotEap.comThe way we celebrate the day is as unique to each family as parents are to their own children. While Mother’s Day has its own set of expectations: flowers, chocolate, and gifts, Father’s Day offers more spontaneity. Like dad himself. Oh sure, there’s the proverbial tie. Gold socks. But because parents have hobbies and sports interests that range from one end of the spectrum to the other, the day is celebrated with a wide variety of activities. Golf? To fish? Relax with a coffee and a good book?
Website design By BotEap.comMy husband and I went into town today. The weather was as perfect as we had ever seen: blue skies and 78 degrees with no humidity. We attend worship services downtown, followed by a picnic lunch on a patio right on 7th Avenue. A long walk through Central Park was not only exciting; the perfect sky served as an umbrella for the hundreds of New Yorkers who threw Frisbees, played volleyball, smooched their honeys and basked in the warmth of the sun on blankets spread out on the open expanse of grass.
Website design By BotEap.comI was acutely aware throughout the day of the unique role my husband plays in our family, as well as in shaping our children’s vision of fatherhood. He is our provider and our protector. However, he is much more. He is a fellow nurse. Not necessarily the first one my kids would run to with scraped knees, but the one I would run to when the emergencies came home. He is the one who took our three-month-old baby to the hospital for an initial biopsy (without anesthesia) when we learned she needed an emergency colostomy; the one who answered the phone call when a boy ran (a mile) away from his house and was discovered by our local police; the one who was by my side this week when I had a brief medical scare. He is our rock.
Website design By BotEap.comHe bears the financial burden on our family, a direct result of the decisions we made together nearly twenty years ago. And when the going gets tough, he gets going. Rising before the sun, traveling through suburban New York City traffic, he fights for results, odds and margins all day, every day. With rarely a word of complaint or frustration.
Website design By BotEap.comMost parents have learned to deal with the harsh realities of everyday life. They have had to. My own seventeen-year-old son came downstairs a couple of weeks ago, walked into the kitchen and said, “I figured it out. You go to school, you get good grades so you can get into a good college, get a job.” Work like crazy and then you die.” Hardly the carefree perspective he would have preferred, but an assessment of some of the reality of being a man.
Website design By BotEap.comOn Father’s Day, and every day, we need to be more aware of the generous efforts that the fathers in our lives make for us. We need to be aware of the sacrifices of their personal time that they make on a daily basis. That they rarely have time for lunch with the boys, a game of tennis and sauna in the morning or bridge in the afternoon. That they have liability issues that we may never fully appreciate. They have superiors to honor, subordinates to lead, and colleagues to inspire. That they have results, quarterly quotas, measures of profitability and responsibilities of the shareholders. Fighting traffic on an empty stomach. And take planes early in the morning with very little sleep.
Website design By BotEap.comThe parents in our lives would surely travel to the ends of the earth for you and their children… if they knew they would be greeted by several pairs of open arms on the other side of the front door.
Website design By BotEap.comLet’s hope that parents around the world understand the unique role they play in our lives, in the lives of their children, and in today’s culture in general. Let’s hope that on Father’s Day, fathers everywhere felt special. Let them know, deep down, that their efforts on our behalf are fully acknowledged, truly appreciated, and deeply appreciated.
