Father's Day

Father’s Day unofficially began when a young woman, Sonore Smart Dodd, of Spokane Washington was sitting in church listening to a Mother’s Day sermon. She decided that she wanted to designate a day for her dad, William Jackson Smart. (Time and Date – Father’s Day)

Father’s Day is celebrated worldwide to recognize the contributions fathers and father figures make to the lives of children This day celebrates fatherhood and male parenting. Although it is celebrated on a variety of dates worldwide, many countries observe this day on the third Sunday in June. (Father’s Day google search)

In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers. Six years later, the day was made a permanent national holiday when President Nixon signed it into law in 1972.

In my own life, my Father was very important to me and my love for him was immense. He was not a touchy-feely type of father. I can never remember him playing games with my sister and myself or taking us on an outing without my mother or our nanny… (Except to Redskins football games). But he showed his love for us in many ways.

My sister and I were sent away to Boarding school in Richmond, Virginia in the tenth grade, in large part because my mother had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and she thought she could spare us seeing her health decline. Whether that was the right or wrong decision, I will never know, but the consequences were that we were not at home a lot and got to see little of mother thereafter. In our boarding school, Thanksgiving was not a school holiday and we were expected to remain on the campus. However, my Father arranged for us to have a “day pass” so we could come home for the holiday meal. He would get up early in the morning and drive to Richmond to pick us up (a 2.5 hour drive), and bring us home for the turkey dinner (another 2.5 hour car ride). Then after we had a few precious hours at home, he’d drive us back to school, and then he returned home himself (another 5 hours of driving). For what amounted to ten hours on the road for him, he gave us the gift of Thanksgiving dinner with our Mother and it was a sacrifice and an act of love that I will never forget.

In Despicable Lies, Fred Coulter, Darcy and Danielle’s father, was an important and pivotal character in their lives. He was, in great part, both the reason for the girls’ estrangement and the reason for their reconciliation. It was his foolish commitment and lust for his second wife, Karin, that forced him to send his beloved daughters away to boarding school and shortly thereafter brought about his financial ruin. The loss of his wealth precipitated the events that led to his daughter’s estrangement from each other and from himself. The issues and subsequent forgiveness did not occur until he was on his deathbed. At the time of Fred Coulter’s death, his daughters had been able to show him how much he meant to them and how much they loved him.

As I stated earlier, my own dad was not the touchy-feely kind of man, but he loved my sister and me. I remember many sweet things about him. He liked playing the drums, and sat-in with bands whenever he could. He adored “Snoopy” and taught the love of that adorable dog to my daughter. He would drive to our house every Saturday morning on the pretext of doing errands. He only stayed a few minutes. He wanted to “check-in”, to be sure we were all right. I think he had a hard time expressing emotions. These “check-in” visits were his way of showing his love for us.

My sister found the photo (below) of him with his camera. We don’t know when or where it was taken but it’s my favorite picture of him. And then below there is a picture of Dad playing the drums and Dad and Kathy. These photos bring back such sweet memories.

Happy Father’s Day… May our Dads always know how important they are to us.

Until my next inspiration…ciao.