Yesterday I watched the US Open & Thought About My Dad

As I do every year.... and while time has not stood still, the event and message is the same. It is a few years later and there is a new US golf champion. However, we still miss those who are no longer around.

It was hard not to know that yesterday was Father’s Day. Signs, announcements and broadcasters made it very difficult not to acknowledge the day. Is it not odd that we need to be reminded by those organizations that typically want us to purchase something? Well maybe we do need to be reminded to spend a moment either with our fathers, if we still have one or to spend some time thinking about our fathers, for the rest of us. My father has been dead for almost 18 years and he died way too young from a ugly disease. Days do go by when I have not thought about him. The other day, I was out for lunch with a colleague and I bumped into a family friend from childhood who I had not seen for years. After briefly catching up, he was quick to remind me how close he was to my father and the impact he had made on his life. Years had passed since I had remembered the positive impact he had on others and on my friends who considered him a father figure as well. My father had an early death and there was much left undone and unsaid.

In my work with families dealing with their parents, I see those who may be flesh and blood but don’t like each other and who do not get along. In other families I am so touched by the care and respect that is shown and expressed. There is however a lot of grey in the middle. Perhaps the commercial reminder of Father’s Day can be the poke we need to reconnect and reaffirm with our own fathers so that we will not feel that there was much left undone or unsaid. Bumping into this old friend and being reminded of my father’s joie de vivre, brought a smile to my face.

Hope you had a happy Father’s Day.