Fathers Day and the Summer Solstice. . .

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           A Bad Combo Adding Insult to Injury on Father's Day?                           

Happy golfers on Fathers Day 

until . . .

. . . Discovering the Summer Solstice falls on this Fathers Day AND US Open final round!


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 the many made-up holidays. Don't believe me? Then how come all the FD greeting cards say, "Dear Dad . . . Who Cares, LMAO!” 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, moms deserve it. Besides, 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:

3:25AM Sun June 21st - Beautiful right?


Enjoy it because . . .
                                                                                                                               . . . In just a few weeks this is the next stop, 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. (Better forget that last thing too.) Then, at its peak . . . 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. 

But that's not all. Get this: the US Open golf championship always ends on Father's Day. Kinda nice, for us dads, right? Ha! It's a close call every year but in a rare inexplicable alignment of earth, sun, the calendar and unknown nefarious forces, every so often - like this year - the summer solstice spreads it dark shadow precisely over this joyous day. Oh, the humanity!

Okay, now think about this: we know the solstice always occurs about this same time every year - and has for, like, a pretty long time. Father’s Day was started in the US in 1910 (by a woman!) then many years later someone (evil doers who hate dads and golf?) decided to park it right next to this lugubrious astronomical event. Seriously? Since nobody cares why not plop it down in August (like Taiwan) or March (like Lichtenstein), or any other months without holidays. Hmmm? 

As for the US Open, I know what you are thinking: why not move it. Well that's just silly talk - it would be easier to change the solstice!


So, this is 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 so justly 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!

On a positive note . . .

My Role Model
                                           
Marvelous Marv, the only guy who could foxtrot to anything  (much to mom's chagrin.)

33 years gone and I still miss you very much, pop - you old smoothie!

The Spendid Splinter's favorite only dance tune.


Note: Fear not, much of this is tongue in cheek - just not the part about the summer solstice. I do hate it so!

Comments

  1. AnonymousJune 20, 2026 at 10:14 PM

    So, you have never done the foxtrot to All Of Me but you can do the frug to In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida? What kind of upbringing did you have?!

    ReplyDelete

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