Dear Dads,
You are somewhat of a mystery in our lives because you may not always tell and clearly show your emotions of love and happiness. The culture has not begun until recent decades to applaud the acts of fathers expressing their love to kids. Well-read and bohemian fathers might have done this, but among ordinary, everyday fathers, the society neglected to tell you that it was okay frequently to tell your children that you loved them. But you were telling us and keeping face among the masculine circles. You did not consciously think it out, you just did things that made you and the kids happy.
There was a family of parents and four children. Periodically, the mother would have to be away for a day or two to deal with some extended family matters. When she was away on a weekend, the father became the primary childcare given (usually this was on weekends because the demands of the weekday schedule precluded either parent being away). On these special weekends, the father was the chief cook and bottle washer. The pinnacle of his culinary skill was the layer cake. Each of the layers was about an inch and a half thick and the father used a whole pound of butter! When the layers were removed from the oven and had cooled a bit, the dad prepared to put the frosting between the layers. His frosting of choice was apple jelly. It was lavishly spread between the bottom, the second and the top layer. And when he cut the slices for the four children, each received a portion the size you would give to giant football players! The children were as happy as they would have been if left in a cookie factory with permission to eat as much and whatever they wanted. The father beamed as he watched his little gluttons devour the dessert as though it was a wonder food. He never told them that he loved them, but that cake from scratch said it in the effort and in the multitude of caloric content.
Our culture is quick to publicize the negative things that fathers don’t do. Fathers, your ears are bent with complaints about your failure to show or utter affection. But this Father’s Day, we, your family, stop and consider the small things you do that tell us you care. Yes, you do mess up many times (including the condition of the kitchen where the layer cake was made! We all mess up from time to time). Whether you are the grill master dad or the camper dad, the sports dad, the scholar dad, the long-drive-to-nowhere dad, whatever is that thing you do that is so much a part of you that when you share it with us you are saying, “I love you”, we say, “thank you and we love you, too.”
HAPPY FATHER’s DAY
TO DADS PRESENT
And
REMEMBERED
Dorothy Watson Tatem, D.Min., ACC
Senior Associate
Next Step Associates, LLC
Cassandra W. Jones, Ed.D.
CEO & President
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