Peterman's Choice*
What's a Dad?

It was amazing being raised by my father, he has led a truly blessed and generous life and set a very good example for all of us.  I think that's why it hurts so much to see him struggle as he gets older and then to do some things for him that he used to do for us.   Nothing I say or do or give him can repay the debt or make up for everything I have put him through.  Nothing can take away the pain, fear, and frustration he feels with the progressing mental and physical problems of his advancing age.  All I can do is love him, support him, and do everything I can until he's gone...but it still doesn't feel like enough.  He is, without a doubt, the best man I've ever known.

Nachista, that's so lovely to hear. I wish I had similar sentiments for my father. When he remarried, his new wife didn't want to acknowledge that he had a previous marriage, let alone 3 children....so once his child support obligations were met, we didn't hear from him again. My younger sister searched and eventually found him in New Haven, Ct. She visited him and his new family, shocking his teenage son and daughter with the revelation that they had half-siblings. She said they were open-mouthed stunned when introduced to her. I've never met them. When he passed away in the 80s, we weren't even informed. Leave it to my sister to find out the news. So I don't really have too many good memories of him other than early childhood visits....he was a career Army man.....and visiting him and his new wife to be in Massachusettes...we really liked her because she was so nice to us....when I was 11....and no communication from her ever again.

good with bad in all human experiences, that is life.  To be human is to err in all ways/  Through those wounds, do we find character and strength to sustain us in all things. happy fathers day to the headship of all women

Good morning StrawHatSunGirl ~ what a nice name!
My Daddy - how I love him even now he is no longer with us. Bless, he was hopeless at woodwork stuff, but when I was a toddler, he made me a wooden horse on wheels to give me something to push around on my wobbly toddly little legs so I didn't fall over so much. He was the reader of bed time stories, the voice of reason in the house, the conspirator who would make us 'don't tell your mother' brown sugar sandwiches. The person who taught me to swim, literally and metaphorically. He had absolutely no doubt where he was going when he died and shared this belief with my son, then 20 years old who, with the brass neck of youngsters, had asked him outright if he was scared to die. I don't know what words my Dad used but what a gift to give to your grandson, to take away the fear of death.

My favorite quote on being a father:
Those guys who fear becoming fathers don't understand that fathering is not something perfect men do, but something that perfects the man.  The end product of childraising is not the child but the parent; the child on whom the parent has been practicing and learning how to be a human being must then go on and learn it for himself by practicing on his own children.  That is the way it works.  As parents, we must remember to be grateful to children for letting us practice peoplemaking skills on them.  If we don't make our children aware of what the process was, and how it felt, and what we got out of it, they may opt to skip it themselves.  They would deprive themselves of the most productive stage of their development, when in the process of childraising we examine and question everything we thought we knew about human development, about masculinity and femininity, and about the nature of the human condition.
Being a father, to our own children or to someone else's, or being something like a father - an uncle, a mentor, a coach, a teacher, a therapist - is the real way to become a man.  We gain out masculinity not by waving it from a flagpole or measuring and testing it before cheering crowds but by teaching it to boys and girls, and to men and women who haven't known a man up close and don't know what men and masculinity are all about.  If men would raise children, it would not only save the world in a generation or two, it would save them their lives.
Will this generation discover the healing power of fatherhood?  As I look at the young men coming into manhood now, I see many patriphobic guys running from fatherhood, but I also see the ones who are willing to risk equality with a woman.  They end up being hands-on fathers in a way that was rare in my generation and even among the baby boomers, who have seemed so patriphobically determined not to grow up and not to take on any experience that might lead them toward adulthood.  My son and son-in-law and nephews are yearning for children, not just children to have but children to raise.  They are not alone.  I feel optimistic about the sort of fathering these guys will do.  The trend is clear: the boys who got fathered want to be fathers, and the boys who didn't get it fear it.
Frank Smith Pittman III, M.D., Man Enough: Fathers, Sons, and the Search for Masculinity, pp. 252-253.  (New York: G. Putnam's Sons, 1993.)

Actually the most incredible experience I have had in my life is being a father.  Beside it, all my other adventures pale - and I am a Vietnam War veteran, a retiree from the Central Intelligence Agency, a minister, a long time recovering alcoholic, a world traveler.  Nothing is as fine as hearing, "I love you, Daddy."  Nothing.

Pats, now I've got those bittersweet memories back, I treasure the special times I had with my dad, but I sometimes miss him so much it hurts. I learned a lot from him, but mainly I managed to figure out how to be a good dad myself, an elusive skill that trumps any other worldly achievement that I accomplished.....hands down. So nice sharing with my virtual family here, a wonderful way that communicative technology allows us fortunate enough to trust in the comraderie to offset the challenges of scattered & harried families at home.

RATS...I meant to say RATS...lol. need dark roast

My own father worked hard to provide for us leaving little or no time for the extras. And yet, I knew, without reservation, how greatly loved we were

With the exception of their own father, my husband, my son is the best father and man I know. As stated, running a close second to his father. He had such a fine example to follow. To see him with his children is to see love. He just now texted me that he's so happy, his oldest is not working this weekend and that means that they can all be together for Fathers' Day.

Lynn830 I think, my husband feels that way.......it seems he was born to it. Even though our children are grown and in their 40's (oh my!) he's still "Dad".

Janej78- how sad it is when that happens. Some men, when they divorce, divorce their whole family, viewing the children as "hers" This happened to my own mother and an uncle did the same. Though he would occasionally see them, give them money, they were never made a part of his new family and always felt like some dirty little secret. They turned out to be such fine men and now in their later years have developed a relationship of sorts with my uncle's new family. So sad when you're the one who is cast off.

http://youtu.be/Pze_BboNfxs John Prine does Steve Goodman and it says it all for me. I am in a Jack London state of mind so- "Don't loaf and invite inspiration; light out after
it with a club, and if you don't get it you will nonetheless get something that
looks remarkably like it." `"Getting Into Print," The Editor Magazine, 1903

You'd have to ask my sons and daughter what kind of father I was/am. I think i'd get at least a B+ at least. Tjere's so much to learn and the learning never stops.  We enjoy and love each other even in trying t imes. And we have fun. with each other...a lot to be said for that, I think. I recall once when hey would have been 4, 6 and 8 I'd guess.  It was a Saturday, a day off and we were going to have a day with just them and Dad. Mom had scrubbed and dressed them up and we were shining. I was bragging to them how good we looked and how people would be looking at us so enviously. I then told them "Now remember, if we see any pretty gir ls, be sure to call me Uncle George" to which they answered as emphatically as they knew how "No!!! We're calling you Daddy!!!" Such love!

My father was very complex.  When I was young, he was cold, sometimes even cruel. The older he got, the mellower he became.  By the time he was a grandfather, he was so kind and loving to his grandchildren. They never knew the cold, sometimes cruel man of my youth. But, I loved my father very much.  All of us, my four siblings and I, loved our Dad in spite of everything.  He more than made up for any of his behavior with his strength, intelligence, ethics, everything. I can't say enough good about him.  One thing that was was interesting; he gave me a copy of Palace Walk when I was in my 30's. I think he wanted me to read it because it was about a father who was cruel to his children, but outside the home he was a wonderful, loving man.  He had a secret life. In some ways, the father in that story mirrored my father.  I was sure he had me read the book as some sort of explanation, but we never discussed it.  My dad's secrets were not the same as As-Sayyid Ahmad in Palace Walk, but he had secrets.

Just like his mother before him, the last words my dad said to me were, "I love you too!"
He always did the best he could...
I have had lucid dreams with him since his passing.

Jane that makes me sad to hear, I was and am very lucky to have such a great dad.  I think he tried so hard because he was an only child and his father abandoned him and his mother when my dad was 1 month old.  Then my grandmother's father was a father figure for my dad but he passed away when dad was 8. 
 
Dad was raised for the most part by women...his mother, his grandmother, his aunts, during the great depression.  He has an acute understanding of women and children that I find rare in men.  He had a large family (7 kids) because he never wanted any of us to feel like he did as an only child.  He didn't just provide, he played whenever possible...tennis, make believe, music...whether he was good at it or not he wanted us to know that fun was important too, he wanted us to have the childhood he didn't really get.
 
When I hear the phrase "Any man can be a father, it takes someone special to be a DADDY." I think of him.  He is never father or Lou, he is da or dad, always. 

Is father's day as hard for childless men as mother's day is for childless women?  This is my first fathers day since the divorce and the closer it gets the sadder I get that I probably won't ever give someone the gift of being father to my potential future children.  It is silly, I know, especially from someone who never thought of children before marriage, but it is hard.

I had mty wonderful dad for 18 yrs & 4 mos. I have 5 younger siblings 1 girl and 4 bros. Mybrothers wanted to be a man like him and my sis and I wanted to find a man much like him.  When my mom met the man I married, she was stunned at how much he resembled Dad.. I have fouir sons one named for Dad.. Their dad is gone now but I have since had two more relationships with Saggitareous men like dad. All birthdays in the same week.  My greatest ambition was to make him proud of me.. My criteria when making a decision was "what would Daddy say?"  He was a cowboy, hunter, loved the outdoors and became a businessman to support 6 kids.. He opened a restaurant and made it successful..Tragically died young (42 yrs old) in an accident returning from an elk hunting trip.  Our mother never remarried 43 years a widow.. Never found another man like our incredible dad!  When your sons want to be like you and your daughters want a man just like you, you've done many things right. 

I had my wonderful dad for 18 yrs & 4 mos. I have 5 younger siblings 1 girl and 4 bros. Mybrothers wanted to be a man like him and my sis and I wanted to find a man much like him.  When my mom met the man I married, she was stunned at how much he resembled Dad.. I have fouir sons one named for Dad.. Their dad is gone now but I have since had two more relationships with Saggitareous men like dad. All birthdays in the same week.  My greatest ambition was to make him proud of me.. My criteria when making a decision was "what would Daddy say?"  He was a cowboy, hunter, loved the outdoors and became a businessman to support 6 kids.. He opened a restaurant and made it successful..Tragically died young (42 yrs old) in an accident returning from an elk hunting trip.  Our mother never remarried 43 years a widow.. Never found another man like our incredible dad!  When your sons want to be like you and your daughters want a man just like you, you've done many things right. 

I had my wonderful dad for 18 yrs & 4 mos. I have 5 younger siblings 1 girl and 4 bros. Mybrothers wanted to be a man like him and my sis and I wanted to find a man much like him.  When my mom met the man I married, she was stunned at how much he resembled Dad.. I have fouir sons one named for Dad.. Their dad is gone now but I have since had two more relationships with Saggitareous men like dad. All birthdays in the same week.  My greatest ambition was to make him proud of me.. My criteria when making a decision was "what would Daddy say?"  He was a cowboy, hunter, loved the outdoors and became a businessman to support 6 kids.. He opened a restaurant and made it successful..Tragically died young (42 yrs old) in an accident returning from an elk hunting trip.  Our mother never remarried 43 years a widow.. Never found another man like our incredible dad!  When your sons want to be like you and your daughters want a man just like you, you've done many things right. 

I had my wonderful dad for 18 yrs & 4 mos. I have 5 younger siblings 1 girl and 4 bros. Mybrothers wanted to be a man like him and my sis and I wanted to find a man much like him.  When my mom met the man I married, she was stunned at how much he resembled Dad.. I have fouir sons one named for Dad.. Their dad is gone now but I have since had two more relationships with Saggitareous men like dad. All birthdays in the same week.  My greatest ambition was to make him proud of me.. My criteria when making a decision was "what would Daddy say?"  He was a cowboy, hunter, loved the outdoors and became a businessman to support 6 kids.. He opened a restaurant and made it successful..Tragically died young (42 yrs old) in an accident returning from an elk hunting trip.  Our mother never remarried 43 years a widow.. Never found another man like our incredible dad!  When your sons want to be like you and your daughters want a man just like you, you've done many things right. 

I had my wonderful dad for 18 yrs & 4 mos. I have 5 younger siblings 1 girl and 4 bros. Mybrothers wanted to be a man like him and my sis and I wanted to find a man much like him.  When my mom met the man I married, she was stunned at how much he resembled Dad.. I have fouir sons one named for Dad.. Their dad is gone now but I have since had two more relationships with Saggitareous men like dad. All birthdays in the same week.  My greatest ambition was to make him proud of me.. My criteria when making a decision was "what would Daddy say?"  He was a cowboy, hunter, loved the outdoors and became a businessman to support 6 kids.. He opened a restaurant and made it successful..Tragically died young (42 yrs old) in an accident returning from an elk hunting trip.  Our mother never remarried 43 years a widow.. Never found another man like our incredible dad!  When your sons want to be like you and your daughters want a man just like you, you've done many things right. 

I had my wonderful dad for 18 yrs & 4 mos. I have 5 younger siblings 1 girl and 4 bros. Mybrothers wanted to be a man like him and my sis and I wanted to find a man much like him.  When my mom met the man I married, she was stunned at how much he resembled Dad.. I have fouir sons one named for Dad.. Their dad is gone now but I have since had two more relationships with Saggitareous men like dad. All birthdays in the same week.  My greatest ambition was to make him proud of me.. My criteria when making a decision was "what would Daddy say?"  He was a cowboy, hunter, loved the outdoors and became a businessman to support 6 kids.. He opened a restaurant and made it successful..Tragically died young (42 yrs old) in an accident returning from an elk hunting trip.  Our mother never remarried 43 years a widow.. Never found another man like our incredible dad!  When your sons want to be like you and your daughters want a man just like you, you've done many things right. 

I had my wonderful dad for 18 yrs & 4 mos. I have 5 younger siblings 1 girl and 4 bros. Mybrothers wanted to be a man like him and my sis and I wanted to find a man much like him.  When my mom met the man I married, she was stunned at how much he resembled Dad.. I have fouir sons one named for Dad.. Their dad is gone now but I have since had two more relationships with Saggitareous men like dad. All birthdays in the same week.  My greatest ambition was to make him proud of me.. My criteria when making a decision was "what would Daddy say?"  He was a cowboy, hunter, loved the outdoors and became a businessman to support 6 kids.. He opened a restaurant and made it successful..Tragically died young (42 yrs old) in an accident returning from an elk hunting trip.  Our mother never remarried 43 years a widow.. Never found another man like our incredible dad!  When your sons want to be like you and your daughters want a man just like you, you've done many things right. 

I had my wonderful dad for 18 yrs & 4 mos. I have 5 younger siblings 1 girl and 4 bros. Mybrothers wanted to be a man like him and my sis and I wanted to find a man much like him.  When my mom met the man I married, she was stunned at how much he resembled Dad.. I have fouir sons one named for Dad.. Their dad is gone now but I have since had two more relationships with Saggitareous men like dad. All birthdays in the same week.  My greatest ambition was to make him proud of me.. My criteria when making a decision was "what would Daddy say?"  He was a cowboy, hunter, loved the outdoors and became a businessman to support 6 kids.. He opened a restaurant and made it successful..Tragically died young (42 yrs old) in an accident returning from an elk hunting trip.  Our mother never remarried 43 years a widow.. Never found another man like our incredible dad!  When your sons want to be like you and your daughters want a man just like you, you've done many things right.        PS. I've had my dark roast!

Ok, Nashvillienne, You "Berted" as we say here in the Village, but you will find out how to only hit the Send key once lightly....It's ok. Most of us have done it one time or another. SpringFragrance says it happens most in Internet Explorer, but not in GoogleChrome or Firefox browsers. Welcome to the Eye Village! So glad you have had a "good Dad experience."

Like you, I lost my dad early on. He died of a massive heartattack when I was 17, a freshman in college. He was only 58. He was a jovial, generous, sociable kind of man who was a VP of his small town bank in Florida where I grew up. I am an only child, so had no one to share the loss. My parents divorced when I was 10, and I moved with mom, so barely knew dad through the teen years until I was ready for college and wrote to him, asking if he'd help me go to a private university (instead of the state school my mother preferred for me).

He did, & visited me several times that year, took me to lunch, told me some stories of his growing up on his dad's farm in Tennessee, and of his one brother who had red hair (as I did). When he died, I inherited his estate, car, home, and moderate bank account. He had never remarried. I was fortunate.

Though I have few childhood memories of my dad, the ones I have are good. He smoked cigars, laughed a lot, took me to work in the bank with him on weekends when no one was there, knew everyone in town and was greeted in friendly voices wherever we went, and he never got mad at me. He had me sit on his knee as he read the Sunday funny papers to me when I was little.

The father of my children also was a kind and generous father. He worked hard for a bank and came home late, but still had patience to teach them to hit the baseball (Wiffle ball), push them in the swings he had assembled, and fly kites with them. As they grew, he always provided for them : braces, health insurance, good clothes, vacations, cars, and good college educations. Now that he's a grandfather, he is still involved and interested in the kids, and will spend time at the beach, movies, or whatever activity they want to share.

Sounds as if we have some outstanding Fathers here in this Village, and I say to those posting, reading, and tuning in, or those long passed and remembered : Congratulations, Fathers, for all you are and all you do!!

My Dad passed away in 2004 at age 89 and though I miss him very much I can say that the memories have not faded even a little bit. He was a strong personality and a unique person in many ways.

Born into a modest Kentucky family that raised lots of cattle (landed gentry was the polite way of putting it) his childhood was marred only by the loss of his older brother. They were both pre-teens at the time. I think his brother's death partially cut the path he would take later as he eventually became a neurosurgeon. And though we think of neurosurgeons of a sort of pinacle of the surgery clique, my Dad was anything but upper-crust. He always favored hunting and fishing to the high life and never drove an expensive car. He could mix very well at the country clubs but I know he preferred not-to since he was so obviously comfortable in kaki pants that had tiny burn holes in them from lighting his pipe.

Dad was regarded by peers and patients alike as an excellent surgeon and person but the these two groups could not have been more different. Physician peers saw him as highly qualified and terribly exacting, so much so that most nurses trembled at the idea of attending him. A number of his patients, however, saw him as the country boy he always was. When appropriate, he put on a bit of country twang in his office to make patients feel more at home and maybe a little less terrified of the reason for their visit.

Having established his surgical practice in Central KY in the late 1940's it was possible for him to be a sole practitioner with nothing but a modest office in downtown Lexington and one secretary who was a whiz at typing in triplicate. Remember onion skin paper? As such he was able to accept payment from some folks (those who lacked funds or insurance) as country hams, hand-made quilts and the like. That happy arrangement ended in the 60's when the demands of medical insurance providers necessitated the addition of several surgical partners and a bevy of secretaries and office administrators to keep up with the paperwork. Thanks a hell-of-a-lot IBM.

The dramatic changes in medical practice, in particular the costs of malpractice insurance, over the decades caused him to say when he was fully retired that if he had to do it over again, if it was under current conditions and with the eminence of socialized medicine, he never would have chosen to be a surgeon at all. He would have become an instructor at a University Hospital.

Here's one for the quasi-dads who need to put both feet down and just dig in and be there for the kids! Play with them, listen to them, discipline them (with kindness), and live so that they will weep at your funeral and miss you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP839hV_aBw

Howdy Nashvillenne- Greetings from Hendersonville- Got my top back on my wheels as the weather here is specatacular and will be heading to Gallatin in a few right past Old Hickory Lake and then off to Center Hill Lake later this weekend. I can't live without hugs and kisses from my kids and they know like it or not they will be like me in some way or the other and the funny thing is "me" like them. The wheels on that bus go round and round.

My husband - he's the best dad I've ever known.  Every girl should have a dad like him.  He knew instinctively what to do and how to do it, how to raise a little girl, and they are today tighter than drums, they have a special connection, and it's a beautiful thing to see. Happy Fathers Day to him, and to all of you dedicated dads out there, who know the true love of your child.

janej - my experience is somewhat similair to yours tho when I was in my 20's.  My father was present physically during my childhood but lacking in emotion altho I didn't doubt that he cared for me.  My mother was another story - she was a physician and not devoted to family.  Fortunately, I was an only child.  When I had children my father became the most devoted grandfather ever.  My mother died and eventually along came a lady friend, another physician.  She said we were the most WONDERFUL people, particularly those 2 cute little girls, etc etc until she finally hooked him.  As soon as "I do" and she was his wife, we were history.  It happened immediately - her entire demeanor changed at the reception. There were 3 more children born.  I'm not sure she even knew their names.  My father was not capable of standing up to her telling me "it is eadier to keep the peace". 
Our own children have a wonderful father for which I am so grateful.
 
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY all you Dad's of the Village.

The best gift for a dad is not something charged to a credit card.

It is the gift of time.

Pure and simple.

Try it.

You'll see.

Today would have been my mother's 98th birthday if she
hadn't died two years ago.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! Just so y'all know, she was like a
mother to me. 

This has become my favorite father/son video. Just like lotlot says, it's about time.

 I first saw it here thanks to Miss Cuukoo, God bless
her.

http://www.petermanseye.com/videos/56

Some glowing tributes starting with nachista's.  Some honest "he wasn't all that great" comments.   Sure goes to prove dads are people.
 
After my father died I received many sympathy cards but one note I truly treasure read, "To know how much you loved your father all I have to do is hear you say 'Daddy' when talking about him.  My sincerest sympathy."

Thanks, Paolos, for posting that link.

In the early 60s when the pop tune supposedly sung by Caroline Kennedy came out and she sang "My Daddy's the President, what does your Daddy do?" I said "oh your Daddy is too?" because I thought my Dad was King of the World. He was the consummate New York gentleman and he never missed a day of work right up until the day he died unexpectedly one week short of his 80th birthday.

As time went on,
beginning with the absolutely ridiculous relationship he had with my mother (never a dull moment)many revelations were made to me about the
lack of perfection, the chip in the armor. It didn't matter by then because in those early years when we form our real opinions and ideals he was exactly as described by Mr. Peterman What's In A Dad essay. At least he was in my eyes.

It is now 10 years since he died but it feels like 10 minutes. I, too, have many lucid dreams about him and I always awaken happy to have spent time with him. Sometimes when I am feeling particularly blue I worry about The American Songbook and wonder how it will survive without my Dad and me constantly singing standards ...punctuating conversations with snippets of songs by Cole Porter, Gershwin, Rodgers, etc. I am so glad that I never realized until late in my teens that he sang completely flat I was sooooo lucky in the Dad Lottery

I am certain that there is a high percentage of wonderful fathers here in the Village and to all of you I wish you a Very Happy Father's Day!

These are all wonderful posts about our Dads, some happy, some sad; I really have enjoyed reading them.  I want to say a little more about my Dad.  My mom died when I was 25. I was the youngest, so we were all adults, but 25 is early to lose a Mom.  Dad really did step up to the plate and did his best to become both mom and dad to all of us, especially me. As I said earlier, he was cold and mean when we were young, but he mellowed.  Maybe he was that way because he was orphaned at an early age (both his parents died in the 1918 influenza).  He set such high standards for himself and his children.  I don't know. But anyway, his grandchildren absolutely worshipped him.  He made a point to get to know all of them and would take them individually on trips with him to Europe, Canada, Alaska; all exciting adventures for these young people (they were in their teens) to have with their grandfather.  He died in 1998 at the age of 82 from cancer. He was always so careful about his health and fitness, in my mind he was supposed to die peacefully in his sleep at the age of 90, we we were all robbed.  Happy Fathers Day Dad, and to all of the Dads out in the Village as well. 

Thanks Paolos. It brought a tear to my eye.

So this happened today...
 
http://www.nachista.blogspot.com/
 
...yes, I get my sense of humor from my dad.

Speaking of father humor, what are your favorite "dad jokes"?  Ah those embarassing groaners he would throw out in front of your high school friends, the ones that made you roll your eyes but now you find yourself repeating them.

Another song tribute for the Dads.... good photos of dads interacting with kids...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQwmr532C80

And a scripted message from a little boy about watching his dad for a role model...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htgPh3DalmM&feature=related

And for the Daddy's girls of any age, the very sweet "Butterfly Kisses" songs...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FyjKQvWKw8&feature=related

"Made it Home All Right..." Father to daughter song....touching.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87aaRf_twdk&feature=related

Then, we can include Celine Dion's "Dance With My Father Again..."....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cfqeLQU_1o&feature=related

Who knew there were so many songs to honor the dads..?! But no list could be complete without the ethnic classic....(can you stand it?).....Eddie fisher had the first version in the 1950's, but this one is a better quality recording....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgdIgNcv4c0&feature=related

Ivan, Ivan, Ivan....where are you? If you're just watching, happy Fathers' Day and, most of all....Good Shabbos to you and your family.

As you all already know this was my Father/daughter dance at my wedding in 1960 and listening to it I'm sitting here crying. I miss my Daddy so much.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7G06tGlm7E

 Apologies for my  faux pas with the  submit key..  my bad!  Love all the stories sent in by so many who respected  and enjoyed their dads. Such precious memories..  Even after 60 yrs, I still miss him, and on the anniversary of his death, my next to me brother and I call each other at the time the priest and local police officer came to our house with the fatal news... For our family it was the night the "music died"  and life as we knew it ended.  He never got to know the grandsons named for him, and see my brothers grow into men with many of his basic ethics and gregarious qualities. Able to "shoot the Breeze" with absolutely anyone.  His name Harry Truesdale from Oregon.  Greetings to Tommy Typical in Nashville.  I'm happy in FL. but miss Nashville...Happy Father's day to all!

MISS ANDY,  GIRAFFE ET AL ...
 
ThankYou for the Notice .......
 
 
It is now time for me to Wish Everyone in The Village a Happy and Great Weekend !!!!!!!
A Great celebratory weekend be to All of You, whether You are a Dad, or have One !!!
 I Wish You All Good Weather, Good Times, Good Friends, Good Food, Good Wine and Family to share it all with ... May Your Weekend and Celebrations Be Everything y'all want it all to be, in Spades !!!  Relax and Enjoy Yourselves, and take No Care For Monday ... it will still be there when the Time comes .......
 
 
To the TRIBE:    A Good Sabbath !!!
 
I Wish You All a Sabbath of Peace, Joy, and Rest !!!  May Familial Celebrations Be Only Joyous, and a Light of Increase For Your Families and Goodness ...
 
" ... Be Comforted, Be Comforted All says Ha'Shem ...
And This I Call to Mind, That I Have Trust in The Lord ...
He Will Swallow Up Death Forever, and Wipe Tears From Every Face ...
He Will Remove From All the Earth the Reproach that Lay Upon His People ...
Because The Lord, Our Father ... has Spoken ... "
 
May Our Rest Be Pleasing To Him Who Has Blessed Us With Life .......
 
 
Blessings Upon You All !!!
 
 
IVAN

Thanks Ivan. And much love to you.

A day late, I remember a time I took a different route -- not as romantic as JP's -- no: that's not so, for  we find romance where we find it.  On a trip to New York city  I was about to use the subway, a departure from my pleasure in walking or in taking the bus. 
 
Suddenly there loomed before me "A," and I knew I must take that A Train wherever it took me.  My point of departure was on West 11th betweenn 5th and 6th Avenues, one of the ccity's most beautiful (and romantic) sections; you walk anywhere and feel safe, even to the theatre district.  I'd no idea where I was headed, but had grown up hearing Daddy sing Big Band era songs...before my time, but not really. I was born too late.
 
An hour later I got off at what seemed a good getting-off spot, walked around long enough to see it was far from where I boarded; and went into a shoe repair mshop run by an elderly black man, who asked, "What you doin[' here, darlin' and where'd you come from?"
 
Embarrased, then, by what I must answer, I nonetheless told him the truth.  He said, "You don't want to be here; give me your hand and I'll take you where you can ride back."
 
I demurred, for he was leaving his shop unattended, but gave him my hand, and we walked, chatting as if we were old friends, to the nearest subway stop. He stayed
'til he saw me safely aboard and had told me precisely where to get off.  Which I did, that old melody ringing in my head throughout my trip.
 
Well!  I'd thought I was badly Off Topic, but I talked myself into a Daddy story after all.  (Does anyone know why we say 'Daddy' when many others say 'Dad' or 'Father'?  Same with BigDaddy, which my grandfather was called.  Not for years did I learn all grandfathers aren;'t named 'bigDaddy.' One of my first published stories had a grandfather in it, and I swung easily into naming him BgDaddy -- 'til the editor reminded that Tennessee Williams has forever ruined another writer's chance of using that name. If I'd thought about it, I'd have known....
 
Take The A Train, and have a lovely Father's Day....

Ivan (*sigh of relief*) ~ I can relax now....................Thank you for your blessings and certainly, the same to you your family.   Good Shabbos!

Park ~ My husband too and each girl tried very hard to find a guy just like her dad. 

Georgia ~ Your A train story is a gem.

My children call me pops, conversationally.  G’morning
pops.  G’night pops. The girls will
call me daddy if they are hurting or if it’s a special occasion as in, “Daddy’s
home.”  I don’t know how the pops thing
came about.  My folks called my
grandfathers pops, but my children
were never around to witness this because both grandfathers died before I was
old enough to sire a brood. This indicates to me that it could be a genetic
predisposition and that language preferences are indeed passed along through
DNA or some other mitochondrial hocus pocus.

I hope you all have a great weekend. 

For those of you who have been like a father to me here in
the Village (You know who you are, you old coots)…

HAPPY FATHERS DAY.

Yeah, yeah… feet off the couch!

"What about my needs?" men and boys become fathers. It's easy.
"What about your needs?" men and boys become dads. It isn't.

Well said, STONEY, as always. 
 
I love the residents of this village!, and the fact that you always exprress  it better than I can.  Whatever 'it' it happens to be. (and overlook rtypos even on this new keyboard -- Im think it's worse!)
 
   thank you, paolos! special father's/dad's/pops' day wishes -- and thanks  for critiqueing my poem. of "pops," my children did the same: when they were in grad school, Daddy suddenly became "pop," and any manifestation thereof that they could come up with. He answered to all.

  n.b., Paolos, I should stress the A-Train tale is true (since you know I write fiction)

Georgia ~
I liked your story too… I could hear city sounds.

I thought Burl Ives was a little over the top.

Loved the posts today. I hope all you fathers had a wonderful day. Nachista...too funny!

Miss Georgia ~ Good fiction has the ring of truth to it and good non fiction will read like an oft told tale.  I could see the light in the shop keeper's eyes and hear the timbre of his voice when he called you "darlin'".  Thanks for the story and the wishes.