101 Years Celebrating the Dads Among Us

Traditions are great.  We all know that every June we set aside the 3rd Sunday to call our dads and say "Happy Father's Day!"  We may join them for a barbecue in the back yard, or a day out at the ballpark.  But did you know that this has been going on for a full 101 years?  It was begun by Sonora Dodd in Spokane, Washington.  She sat listening to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909 and wondered why we had a day to honor our mothers, but nothing similar for our fathers.  Her father, William Smart, was a Civil War veteran, and she wanted to honor him publicly, so she sought civic action on the matter.  The following year, Spokane's mayor proclaimed June 19 Father's Day because it was the month of William Smart's birth.

In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson designated the 3rd Sunday in June as the official day on which Father's Day would be celebrated each year, and in 1972, President Richard Nixon signed a public law making this day of recognition permanent.

Today, the most recent U.S. census estimates that there are approximately 70.1 million fathers across the United States.  That's a lot of barbecue to be made and ballgames to be watched...although some fathers, like my own, might have celebrated the day in other ways.



 So, I'm going to reminisce about my own dad and some of the things that forged our relationship through the years.  The first photo I've seen of him and me together is on Easter Sunday when I was just about 8 months old.  I was a tiny baby and all decked out in a frilly white Easter dress.  He was holding me up so I could stand for the picture with my older siblings.  It was a proud moment, to be sure.  Stoicism was fashionable then.

Then, there were those Saturday mornings when he could sleep in on occasion and I would join him on the bed to play a game of cat and dog.  Even at that young age, barely out of toddlerdom, I was interested in the world of domestic pets.  He remembers that I was always the cat, but my recollection is 180 degrees opposite of this.  One of us has failing memory!

There were many, many days when I would climb onto his lap as he read poems and stories to me from a literary anthology.  And when I was quite young, I learned that I brightened his days simply by running across the lawn to greet him as he returned home from work in the afternoons.

As life has moved on, we have shared interests in reading and writing, politics and sports.  We share a genetic stamp on our physiology that I'm just going to call the "look young" gene.  It has held us both in good stead for quite a few decades.  Finally, and most importantly, my father cared for me enough to introduce me to the Lord and Savior of my life, Jesus Christ.  This eternal hope and faith is another thing that connects us.

I'm sure you, too, have many memories of things you have shared with your fathers.  Even if you're not in America celebrating Father's Day, take time to remember the good things your father has done for you and tell him about it.  It'll make him happy.

Happy Father's Day, Dad!