What Would I Be Doing Sunday If I Still Had My Dad?

Father's Day is coming up this Sunday and this will be the 30th Father's Day since my father passed away in a car accident back in 1988. I had a friend ask me yesterday if my dad was still alive, what would I do with him to celebrate the holiday. I didn't know what to say. So I thought about it, and here's what I came up with.

I think about my father all the time, but with Father's Day right around the corner, and it being the 30th anniversary of the holiday since his passing, I really had to ponder what I would do if my father was still alive. First of all my dad would be 85 years old if he was still alive, so I'm not sure what shape he would be in. But, if he was healthy enough, I'm sure my sisters (all five of them) and I would all get together to do some kind of family cookout or something. Maybe we would take him to a baseball game or out for a nice brunch together. Maybe we would all kick in some money and treat him to a day at the casino.

I was 19 when my father died so I never got to legally have a beer with a man. I used to deliver newspapers around my block when I was a kid and there was a neighborhood bar (Carden's Beer Garden) that I used to deliver to every day. Sometimes, I would sit at the bar and have a soda and a piece of pizza, or a bag of chips or something, and I would always tell Jimmy the owner that on my 21st Birthday, I would be in to have a beer with my father and with him. The owner of the bar and I both shared the same birthday, Aug. 4th., so we thought it would be a cool idea. Needless to say that never happened. I think even just sitting down at a bar and having a beer with my father on Father's Day would be a great memory.

It doesn't take much to make Dads happy on Father's Day. Even something small, some kind of acknowledgment is all he wants. Even if you can't afford anything huge, just offer to help him around the house with the chores that he's usually responsible for like mowing the grass and stuff like that.

I hope that you and your father both have a great day on Sunday. I'm sure my father will have a great day up there and it will be a much better day than any Father's Day here on Earth regardless of what gift we game him.