In case you’ve forgotten, this Sunday is Father’s Day.
It’s also National Aboriginal Day, the first day of summer (Summer Solstice) and National Yoga Day – but I digress.
For some reason Father’s Day seems to sneak up on us with little warning.
Prior to Mother’s Day, we’re typically inundated with commercials and other forms of advertising reminding us to not forget Mom and everything she’s done for us.
Mother’s Day is of course well-deserved, but so is Father’s Day although it doesn’t seem to be promoted on quite the same level.
I’m fortunate this year to be able to spend June 21 with my dad who moved to the Lower Mainland a few years ago.
Usually, my brother and sister and I send him a card in the mail with an iTunes card and some scratch and wins.
But this weekend it will be nice to celebrate the day with him in person.
I admit, now that we’re living in different places and we’re both busy with work and other commitments, it’s been difficult to put in the effort of being a good daughter.
It’s easy to say ‘I’m too busy working’, or ‘I have plans that night’ and put off a phone call that, really, in the grand scheme of things, doesn’t take up much time at all when you consider there are 168 hours in a week.
Father’s Day is the reminder I, and perhaps others, need to take the time to visit, or call, and give Dad the time he deserves.
He did, after all, devote 28 years of his life to me.
I’ll never forget how my dad taught me to ride a bike, and how he would pull those loose teeth out for me when they were hanging on a by a thread but were too stubborn to fall out.
It always amazed me how he could so painlessly yank out a tooth without me even realizing it was gone.
I’ll also always remember how when I first moved away from home, my dad came with me to spend a week helping me get settled in; he drove me around to hand out resumes and he took me by my new school to get all of the books I would need for my courses.
And, more recently, whenever we need to go over to the Mainland, my dad without hesitation offers to pick my sister and I up from the ferry and drive us to wherever we need to go.
Two weekends ago, even though he moved all the way out to White Rock, my dad drove into downtown Vancouver to pick us up from our hotel and drive us out to the ferry so we wouldn’t have to get on the bus with all of our luggage. And, typical Dad, never accepts the gas money my sister and I try to force on him.
Of course, like most families, things weren’t and aren’t always perfect, and I still get frustrated having to repeat myself several times when his aging mind forgets things, but that’s only natural.
And I’ve come to realize I need to appreciate even the most frustrating things because he’s not always going to be there.
So for now, I’m trying to take advantage of the time I have and not take my dad for granted.
This Father’s Day, show your dad, guardian or the father figure you may have in your life, how much you care and appreciate all that he’s done for you.
Make the time to make that phone call or pay him a visit.
You never know when it may be for the last time.
To all of the dads out there – Happy Father’s Day!
kristend@campbellrivermirror.com