You can keep your ties, your coffee mugs and your artwork for Dad to hang up at work. Father’s Day has never been about the gifts.
I know it’s a difficult day for some families, including my own, because Dad is just so hard to shop for. Whenever you ask him, he says he doesn’t need anything. He says he has everything he needs already. And whatever you hand him, he’ll awkwardly smile, tell you how nice it is and thank you.
He’s not playing coy, kids. It’s the truth. When you share your life with your family, your children are your gift throughout the year.
There are countless presents my children gave me this year and didn’t even realize it. Most of the time, they’re moments when I realize I’m blessed with children who are abundantly better people than I can ever be.
For instance, my 14-year-old daughter recently won the citizenship award at her school. When they described the award, they talked about someone who was always nice, polite and considerate of others. I envisioned Mother Teresa winning it, not my eldest girl. If there’s one award I’d want to win in life, it would be that one, but I know my personality just isn’t friendly enough to pull it off. I think that award might mean more to me than to her, and it means an awful lot to her.
My 8-year-old daughter recently completed her first year of 4-H judging, for two projects. When she received an A on both of them, she beamed. She was proud of the ribbons, but I was proud of all the work that led to that accomplishment. Those projects, including building and testing a 2-liter rocket, were no small feat. To defend your work in front of a judge would terrify me. To ace them both is a testament to her determination, a trait I value greatly.
My 7-year-old daughter continues to inspire me every day. She hates when we recall about how she almost died when she was a baby, requiring a hospital baptism, but she’s such a marvel. When she decides she’s going to do something, it gets done, and it gets done well, whether it’s improving her batting in softball, learning a new dance or even just physically bouncing back from a broken elbow last summer.
There are countless other stories I could tell and would tell, but my point isn’t to bore you with how proud I am of my daughters. My point is most dads out there are enthusiastic about their children’s accomplishments and enjoy being a part of their lives.
We might come off a little gruff sometimes. I know I have trouble processing joy as a legitimate emotion, so I warp it with sarcasm and jokes. That’s why, when my kids sometimes ask me what I want, I answer “peace and quiet,” even though that’s the last thing I really want while they’re still young and around.
It doesn’t mean I’m any less proud of them or the life we’ve built together. That’s what makes it a happy Father’s Day for me.
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