Summer Solstice and Father's Day . . .
. . . Bad Combo!
Insult to injury for Father's Day?
Father’s Day and the summer solstice, on the same damn day! I wonder if there is a hidden message or meaning to this . . . "coincidence."
Everyone knows that Father’s Day is the least important of
all the made up holidays. Don't believe me? Then how come all the FD greeting cards say, "Dear Dad . . . Who Cares, XoXo?!” Also, you can count on one hand the number of times you see
a kid waving and yelling “Hi dad” on tv, it’s always “Hi mom!” And that’s okay,
that’s the way it should be, dads are meant to toil in familial obscurity. We
can’t compete with a mother’s love so all we can do is try to compete with
brute sincerity - and the occasional game of hoops or playing catch. A dad’s
love may not make for clever Hallmark cards but that doesn’t make it any less
real (just a little less obvious.)
So we get this one day a year to pretend like we are an
equal partner in the hearts of our family and what happens? It’s accompanied by
the worst day of the year, the summer solstice! Don’t believe me? Think about
this:
10:31AM Sun June 20th
Yes, this is just around the corner, pal!
Unlike its winter alter ego which signals the beginning of
hope, the summer solstice signals the opposite. Minnesota summer: endless, lazy days with blue skies and puffy, white, fair weather clouds. Days of long, perfect drives down the middle of the fairway and short
putts. (Forget that first part. Okay, also the second part.) Of short
nights with cool breezes by the lake and the Milky Way shimmering above. Of girls in tank tops and men in speedos.
(Now forget that last thing too.) Then, at its peak - and the solstice comes along and robs us of this magic, laughing as it does so and replacing it with the long slide to
the depths of winter. Oh, the humanity!
That not bad enough for you? Then think about this: the solstice is always about this same
time every year - and has been for, like, a pretty long time - yet someone (Ugly cargo shorts designers or golf club makers?) in the US invented Father’s Day in 1908 and parked
it right next to this lugubrious date. Since nobody cares why not plop it down in August (like Taiwan) or March
(like Lichtenstein), or any other months without holidays. Hmmm?
Exactly - it’s a test! One day a year a dad gains a bit of stature as the other
adult in the house – and it’s quickly snuffed out by the gloom that comes with
the summer solstice. How will I react to this outrage? Will I snivel and whine about my fate?
Will I complain about yet another snub to my male ego? Will I declare the victim-hood I have earned? No, damn it, no! This is
where I prove to my family that an American dad can accept the abuse the gods
heap on me with the calm and dignity that has made me a legend at every sporting
event of my kids; it's evidence that my cluelessness to most domestic
dramas is just my way of staying neutral and, finally, proof that offering a clumsy hug is my
way of kissing to make it better. It is a test I shall pass with a strong C+!
In any event I wish a Happy Father’s Day to all my fellow
dads. We may be overweight and underappreciated but we love and are loved and that will always do. Besides, only six months to the winter solstice!
P.S.
Now that they have added the very joyous Juneteenth celebration to this sad PITTS (Point in Time That Sucks) let us hope that the solstice doesn't screw up that holiday too.)
On a positive not . . .
My Role Model
Marvelous Marv, the only guy who could foxtrot to anything.
28 years gone and I still miss you very much, pop - you old smoothie!
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