Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there! It was a beautiful day here; great for cooking out. Not having my dad around, I didn’t celebrate the holiday, but I did cook dinner on the grill. It’s rather interesting that grilling out seems to be a Father’s Day tradition, presumably with dads doing the grilling, while the Mother’s Day tradition is brunch at a restaurant. Hmmm.

Because I’m the curious sort, I looked up the history of Father’s Day. I found it intriguing that it didn’t become an official holiday until 1972, about 58 years after Mother’s Day was established. But like Mother’s Day, credit for getting Father’s Day to exist at all is given to Sonora Smart Dodd, in honor of her father who was a Civil War vet and single dad raising six children. So both holidays are in place because a child was proud of a parent and moved enough to want to honor him and her. Parents have great power of influence.

If you follow my blog, you know I lost my dad to cancer in April. I’ve said a lot about him in the weeks since. He definitely influenced my life a great deal, and I missed him and thought about him today. He was actually my step-father, but I always considered him my dad. I was very young when my parents divorced, and I grew up seeing my biological father only occasionally. Mostly during summer vacations, which made it difficult for me to form a strong attachment. However, I do still see him when I visit my sister who lives close to him. And recently he mentioned how he realizes he’s missed out on a lot of my life. It’s true, reciprocally as well. So on this Father’s Day, I’m thankful that he is still here and wanting a relationship with me. I hope we have time to get to know each other a little better.