Happy fathers day, to those wonderful fathers that are with us and to those fathers that are passed, we remember them with love. As you may have read in the ‘About’ section on the Menu, I was adopted at a very young age and never met or knew anything about my biological father until well into my 30’s. The many years that had gone by without ever meeting my biological father or my mother, were pretty painful. I was never very close to my adopted father, in the short time that I had lived with my adopted parents. But those were the cards that I was dealt and somehow I had the mental strength to get on with it. Again, tip of my hat to my old school in Mandeville, Jamaica, DeCarteret College.
Its hard to talk about a father without speaking about a mother. For they are a team. Good parents do their best to provide the best education, happiness and love for their children. Many times, the children never know the many sacrifices that parents make for them, so they can participate in sports which is a great healthy and social activity, to go to movies at the movie theatres, holidays if some are lucky to have any at all, tricycles, bicycles, different lessons like swimming and today, many electronic devices like mobile phones, video game units, clothing, watching sporting events with outrageous ticket prices, and so on. Lets not forget the loving parents whose children have different medical conditions and pour out so much love and devotion to their children with special needs, 24 hours a day. They are a special blessing. If your like me, we always keep our ear to the air, just listening and making sure everything all around sounds all right in their lives. No, we don’t interfere, we just have it close to our hearts, knowing that the title of ‘child’ does not change to us parents, when they legally become adults. We just in a very respectful way, remind them that we are always there if they need to get another opinion, even though they might not take it. The financial strain on some families is incredible. This is why, as the children grow, we teach them how to help their parents by doing some chores and listening to their parents. For this is twofold: Firstly, it shows appreciation and secondly, it gives them some of the best tools in life to take into adulthood.
So, today, to the fathers that are out there working the many hours, overtime, fighting traffic and many bosses that you don’t like, but some you do, rushing home to pick up the kids from somewhere, getting home and almost literally falling into your families arms, this is the day. This is the day that you sit back for a few minutes and reflect on the years, how far both you and your wife have come along, fighting illnesses, financial strains and energy depletions, this is the day when you look at your wife and smile, because this time, only you two actually know how far that smile goes.
Happy Fathers Day, you done good.