Father's Day

     Today is Father's day, a day we honor those who helped nurture us when we were young.  What is a Father or the more common term Dad.  There is no program or class
to show a man how to be a Dad.  Many can father a child, but so many have failed at being a Father or Dad.  I think of my Dad often, he has been gone from this earth almost twenty years. Was he a good Father or Dad? He had been on his own since he was seven years old.  His Father died and in those days it was hard to keep a family together. He and his brothers were sent to a farm to live and work because his Mother couldn't afford to keep the family together. In those days the government didn't pay a woman to have more children, there was no welfare, it was fend for yourself.  I remember him telling stories of how he and his brothers were treated, he said they ran away everyday, only to be sent back because they had to work. There were no child labor laws then , they were cheap labor.
     How did this young boy with this very tough childhood learn how to be a Father?
Maybe he decided he would not let his sons grow up in the same environment he endured. He wasn't very educated, very little formal schooling, but he seemed to know everything. Whenever there was a family crisis, he was the steady ship's captain. He never let us see his emotions. How he must have felt when my Mom was sick with a lung disease and he had four mouths to feed, two of us under the age of two. My younger brother had just been born, only eighteen months after me. He was able to handle it all, going to work, visiting the hospital and making sure we were provided for. I never heard him complain. No one taught him what to do when  events in the family did not go as planned.  Somehow he knew what had to be done.
     My Father taught me so many things in life. He showed me more by example than by word. His family was the most important thing in his life. Not just our immediate family but also his birth family. He had many brothers and a couple of step-brothers
also sisters and step-sisters. I remember him always having them over for visits or us getting in the car and visiting them. I knew he had a love for all of them.  I remember how he cried when Uncle Rudy died. Rudy was a step-brother, but in my Dad's eyes
there was no step.
     Take the time today to appreciate your Dad. Remember there is no school for fatherhood. If your Dad taught you one thing in your life that you have used to make your children better people, than you are very lucky.
     If like me, your Dad has left a lasting impression on you, and you miss him everyday than he has earned the title "FATHER".