Father's Day is a relatively new holiday. The first time it was held was in June 1910, but it wasn't officially recognized as a holiday until 1972 by then-President Nixon. This last Sunday, fathers were celebrated. My challenge to everyone is to make it a week-long celebration.
My father worked hard but knew how to rest. He laughed easily, especially at the practical jokes he played on others, and loved solitude and peace at his Fort Peck cabin. A smile came across my face when I remembered he would wave occasionally out the window while we were driving down the road. I asked him once why he did that, and he said someone should wave to the rocks on the hills!
I also remembered his love of poetry. He had a learning disability, which, when he was growing up, he thought he was just stupid. But that learning disability has shown up now in three generations. I marvel at a man who loved poetry. You don't see it displayed that often in rural Montana. This one is a little low-brow, but it made me think of my father.
"A dad is his daughter's first hero,
The man she admires from the start.
And whether she's small or completely grown up,
He has a warm place in her heart." Author unknown.
He once told me he married my mom because she was wholesome, and he said I was wholesome, too. I was a teenager at the time, and I didn't want to be wholesome! However, I think he fell in love with my mom because she laughed so easily. I'm not sure if it's true, but I think my family stayed close because we laughed together so much. I love to laugh. I probably laugh at totally inappropriate times too often!
I'm more like my father than my mother. I can sit and do nothing and enjoy the quiet and solitude. My mother always had to be working. They both loved nature, but my father's love of storms always comes to mind when a storm rolls in like last weekend. He would sit and watch it for hours. He loved the display of lightning!
I also saw him cry for profound hurt, for deep disappointment, for unbelievable grief. But he was a rock, a constant emotional support for me. Happy Father's Day Week
