A Hallmark Holiday.....

Today is Father's Day. I didn't google it to see when it was "invented" or who started it. Not sure if it is a "Hallmark" kind of holiday or really founded to celebrate fathers.

It was a quiet day here in Port Washington, we were still busy unpacking the RV from the latest western excursion....but there was a golf game on TV (for HOURS!) so that was something Dave chose to happily watch. And our daughter and her family came over on their way home from Milwaukee to take us all out for ice cream and our son called Dave from Seattle. And I was busy with the final RV unloading and laundry (after five weeks on the road I did have some catching up to do!)

So we celebrated Father's Day in a quiet sort of way.....but then I began to think about it a little more. And I wanted to thank my husband for being a really hands-on kind of Dad. When the kids were young....he wasn't "babysitting" when he cared for our son and daughter......he was fathering. I could go off for the day.....or sometimes several days, and know that Dave and the kids would be fine. Did I usually leave a few frozen meals for him to serve.....yes.  But he was perfectly capable of making dinner, throwing in a load of laundry, changing a diaper, giving a bath, chauffering kids here and there, ironing a shirt, vacuming the carpet. Whatever was needed......he could do it.

I think that Dave was in the "first" generation of really hands-on fathers.....and the "job title" has only grown and changed since we were raising youngsters in the 1970's. I look at our son and our son-in-law and see dads that are even more involved than he was.

My nephew in Chicago is celebrating his first Father's Day.....and he is truly a hands-on kind of Dad. In fact he took his little guy out to lunch with the "boys" just a few weeks after he was born. Little guy happily sleeping in his car-seat while new Dad spent a little time with friends. This is a new baby....and new father is already completely comfortable in his role....and new mother is confident in his abilities.

I think "fathering" has changed since I was a child. My dad went to work, came home and was a presence in the house (and he did barbecue) but my mother's daily work was much more family oriented.

Sometimes change is very good.....so here's to the Fathers out there who are actively fathering! Keep up the good work guys....the results are so worth it.