My First Father's Day

Today marks the first time I've celebrated Father's Day in 19 years.

My father passed away 19 years ago, so for me, Father's Day has been a day of remembrance, and often times melancholy. As time went on, there would be years that I wouldn't even know when it fell on the calendar. It seemed foolish to bother with it if I was going to get depressed. I loved my dad and I miss him everyday. No need to grind the knife home every June.

But this year was different. This was the first time I was the dad. Mommy and Max let me sleep in a bit, and then they crawled into bed with me. Max grinned and mommy gave me my gift. It took a little encouragement, but Max lent a helping hand in ripping the paper off. It was a multiphoto frame of pictures of Max and I! It really is great and heartwarming. Then, when I thought it was time to get up and greet the day, Angie said there was one more. This was a smaller frame. Again, Max helped open it up with much screeching.... This one brought tears to my eyes. It was a dual photo frame. On the left is a picture of my dad playing with me when I was 7 monts old. On the right is a picture of me playing with Max when he was nine months old, or (seven months adjusted) in pretty much the same position. My dad and I have the same haircut, and Max and I have big grins on our faces.



I always wondered why my dad always was appreciative of the bottle of Old Spice we got him every year, or the inexpensive fishing lure. Now I know, and it has nothing to do with what we got him, it was always about what was already given.

Thank you, my family. You've made Daddy (or Papa, or whatever I wind up being) very happy.

P.S. It's been one week since my last cigarette. I'm using the patch and it seems to be working. This is the longest I've gone in my memory.