Legal Quandary

Happy Father's Day

Father's Day this year, like last year, is kind of bitter sweet.

My dad passed away one year ago yesterday. Other than mentioning it once to my mom, we didn't really mark it in any way. Part of me is sorry for this, but the other part of me feels like we made the right decision in having EC's birthday party yesterday. 1) Because it kept us busy enough to keep us from dwelling on my dad's death, 2) because it was the only day we could really fit it in before she heads to Nebraska for a month, and 3) because life *does* go on, and it's just as important to celebrate those among us as it is to remember those who are already gone. (My dad might have disagreed. We were always celebrating dead relatives when I was growing up. Dad would come upstairs for dinner and announce that it would have been one ancestor's 150th birthday that day, or that some other ancestor had died 50 years ago that day. When Lil Q was born, my dad was the second person we called with the news - the first words out of his mouth were that his grandfather, Grandpa Charlie, had died exactly 45 years before. No joke.)

This year I'm reminded not only of my own father's death, but also those of several friends' dads. I'm thinking of B, Vanilla Gorilla, and Stare Decisis today. Their losses are a lot more recent, and I'm sure it's a tough day for them. I remember what it was like last year for me.

But, as I said life does go on, so I would be remiss in not wishing Mr. Q a happy Father's Day. He's an amazing dad - and is infinitely better at being a dad than I am at the whole mom thing. We'll be having Strawberry Crepes for dessert tonight in honor of him. Don't you love how I can turn a day honoring others into an excuse for me to eat fattening desserts?

Hope all you other dads who read LQ (all 3 or 4 of you) have a happy day! For the rest of you...remember to appreciate your dads while you've still got them.

posted by Legal Quandary at 17:46