I had a wonderful Father’s Day. Besides the fact that it was Sunday, which is often a peaceful, relaxing day anyway, I got some great gifts from my family. Yes, there were some things that came from stores–and those are appreciated, too–but I noticed there was something else in common with most of what I received yesterday: they gave me the best of themselves. Each person gave me something that represents some of their strongest talents.
My wife is an incredible cook, and though the menu for the day was not a surprise (more of a tradition, really), they were some of my most favorite things. Her breakfast cake melts in your mouth, and feels like a warm, gooey-crunchy-sweet hug on the inside. And her tofu pot pie–I could live on that for quite a while before I’d get tired of it. Even the cake, which was a brand new recipe, was an experience in culinary delight.
My daughter, as I’ve mentioned before, is an artist. I’ve been a little concerned lately, as she’s not been producing any art lately–or so it seemed. What she was doing was creating art in secret. I am now the proud owner of a very-limited-special-edition print of her piece “For the Win” (prints are available to the public, but mine is entirely unique). I may be a little biased, but this one is graphic-novel/book cover quality. I was blown away by just how good she’s getting. And she did it just for me.
My older son printed up a list of things he likes most about me, and it’s a heart-warming list that makes me think I might be doing okay after all. He also included a coupon for a free deck-building consultation for Pokémon. As I’ve likely mentioned before, that’s one of his areas of excellence.
My youngest son gave me a coupon for a free tennis match. That’s his main forte (among other things, but I think he senses I’d like that better than a free math session 😉 ).
I know some kids’ coupons have a reputation for being a bit lame, but I recognized immediately that mine are offering me their best stuff. These aren’t for “an hour of doing whatever you want” or “one free cleaning of the garage.” These are things they do quite well, and they want to share them with me. They want to spend time with me.
Yesterday could have been renamed “The Best of My Family” Day. How could that not be an awesome day? From start to finish it was special. Even the dog went out of his way to play with me. It was a day the be reminded of just how great it can be to be a father.
And don’t forget Benny! He held his end of the deal we had made and made sure you didn’t get up from that couch for awhile. I think Max probably let you pet him for an extra long time, too. We all wanted to make sure you had a good day. 🙂
This is true. Benny even pinned me down with a minimum of “acupuncture”, which is unusual. We were actually getting along fairly well before I had to get up to try and answer the phone. And Max snuggled up next to me while I took a nap on the bed–with his front paws jammed into my armpit.