Another Father’s Day has crept up on us, and this Sunday fathers everywhere will be celebrated by those who love them, those they have cared for and inspired.
I typically shy away from dedicating my editorial space to ‘Hallmark’ holidays; it is not my forte, and others do a much better job writing about these sorts of things. Not to mention, nobody reads these sorts of editorials anyway. Well, a few do, but in the dozen years of running this newspaper, I know that this editorial will receive a fraction of the reads compared to more topical columns focused on things that make people angry or frustrated.
That said, in this past year and a half of the pandemic I have never missed my own grown children more.
I have been a father for nearly 23 years, and my two sons, currently 22 and 18 years old, have been a shining light in my life for every second since their births.
My oldest has been excelling in his field and is an executive chef at a fancier restaurant than my wallet can afford, and my youngest has been trudging his way through his final year of high school, frustrated with the home learning, the uncertainty, and the inability to see his friends or play team sports in his final year.
With all of the various restrictions that have been imposed on us during this pandemic, I, like many others, have not seen much of my kids over the past 18 months. My boys live an hour and a half away, and we have grudgingly followed the rules and have not had any visits in ages. A couple of weeks ago my boys came to Meaford for an outdoor, socially distanced visit to celebrate my birthday, and it was such a treat to spend time with both of my sons at the same time. We didn’t do anything overly exciting. We spent an afternoon target shooting, followed by enjoying some locally made apple cider and a barbeque. Simple pleasures, but after the past 18 months, simple pleasures are some of the best pleasures.
I suspect that this weekend many families will gather for the first time in months, and though Father’s Day can’t compare to the hype and gift buying brought about by Mother’s Day, there will be brunches and barbeques (outdoors of course), tacky ties, fishing rods, and perhaps a lawn mower or two as part of the celebration of Dads.
Both my father and my stepfather have passed away, so Father’s Day for me is mostly a time for reflection and memories, along with celebrating a couple of oldster friends who are father-like figures in my life.
Memories aside, my focus this weekend will be on my own offspring. We won’t have a visit this weekend (we decided to wait until bass season opens for their next visit), but we will be in touch virtually – how different this pandemic would have been without our modern means of communications.
So, I know that, statistically, few will read this editorial when compared to typical columns, but fear not, next week I will be back to writing about topics that might frustrate or infuriate you, or that will throw a spark into coffee shop chatter, but this week I wanted to give a nod to all of the fathers out there, many who have been missing their children and grandchildren over the past year and a half, and to thank my own two sons for nearly 23 years of fabulous fatherhood. I couldn’t have hoped for two finer boys, now men, to be my sons.
However you plan to celebrate Dad this weekend, we must keep in mind that though we are in Step 1 of the province’s reopening plan, we are still in the midst of this pandemic, and we still need to ensure that we are maintaining distance from others, wearing masks when appropriate, and that we take the festivities outdoors as much as possible.
