How my Father's Day went

I made it to our family reunion this past weekend, and if my memory serves me right it was the first time I actually spent Father's Day with my dad since 1975. Dad is 80 now and I don't know how many more Father's Days I'll have to share with him.

I also got to spend part of Father's Day with our daughters and grandchildren, and that was priceless. Yes there were cards, and even a rhubarb strawberry custard pie. The time I got to share with my own dad makes me appreciate even more the time I get to share with our children and grandchildren.

Dad and I went out to lunch together. Mom is in a nursing home so she wasn't able to go with us, but we went there after lunch and spent some time with Mom. After supper Dad and I sat up talking till after midnight. Dad had shared some of what he told me then before, but this time he shared more of how it affected him. He still thinks about the men on Triangle Hill who were killed in the Korean War, about the fact that he was headed there but was saved from their same fate by having orders to radio school. One of his classmates was seriously injured there and brought to a MASH unit, from where he was put on a ship to Japan for further treatment, and how that ship never made it to Japan. After 58 years these things still weigh heavily on Dad's mind.

If you still have your father, take some time to sit down with him and listen. Let him talk about the things in life that are important to him. Ask him what it was like when he was growing up, and what he experienced. He needs this as much as you do.