Recommended by Ricochet Members Created with Sketch. Father’s Day and the Longest Day of the Year

 

Here it is, the gloaming, Midsummer Day. On a deeper, darker gloaming, in another place in 1960, we kids danced around outside and then Dad came home from work. It had been one of his long days. He looked tired out, even wearing a shirt and tie, and he was carrying packages and smiling.

Father’s Day and the Solstice are close together; that had not been clear to me until this year’s Ricochet reflections on both matters. I am grateful to have the connection made: as I look out on the gloaming at my place, I recall the earlier place and time.

He was a Dad who was proud and happy and grateful to bring home gifts.

He must have gone to the dime store some time that day. He thought of each of us, and for me brought an Indian warrior on a black horse. It was a little like the one above, but plastic instead of lead, less detailed, and there was no war bonnet, just a feather on a headband. It was wonderful. It was mine from him, and the expression of happiness on his face as he gave it to me on the walk toward his house is the main thing, and the thing I will not forget.

A man wants a home and a family. Someone to come home to is repeated so often that it can happen that we no longer feel its truth. This Father’s Day season we lucky ones remember our Dads. This evening I would think on how Dads remember us, if they have had us; hope for us, if their prospects for fatherhood seem fair. And for those who yearn, and yearn, know that you are thought of, and hoped for, that you may know this happiness as well. Best wishes for the happiness of all Ricochet fathers past, present, and future.

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  1. Percival Thatcher
    Percival Joined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    Well done, jzdro.

    • #1
    • June 21, 2017, at 6:40 PM PDT
    • 4 likes
  2. Trink Coolidge
    Trink Joined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member

    jzdro: . . .the expression of happiness on his face as he gave it to me on the walk toward his house is the main thing, and the thing I will not forget.

    This was so lovely and loving.

    • #2
    • June 21, 2017, at 7:52 PM PDT
    • 6 likes
  3. MarciN Member

    Beautiful photographs. A serene yard. Just lovely.

    • #3
    • June 21, 2017, at 9:28 PM PDT
    • 3 likes
  4. RightAngles Member

    How beautiful. And “gloaming” is an underused word!

    • #4
    • June 21, 2017, at 11:34 PM PDT
    • 3 likes
  5. jzdro Member
    jzdro

    Thank you all!

    • #5
    • June 22, 2017, at 4:37 AM PDT
    • 4 likes
  6. Nanda Panjandrum Inactive

    Late to the party, but thanks for the smile – and the tear that came with it.

    • #6
    • June 22, 2017, at 2:44 PM PDT
    • 4 likes
  7. Hypatia Inactive

    Crying! I love this. I love my father with all my heart, soul, and mind. I wish he were still with me. God bless all our fathers and preserve us to the great reunion, if such there be…

    • #7
    • June 22, 2017, at 6:45 PM PDT
    • 3 likes
  8. Front Seat Cat Member

    What a beautiful post! My sister was at a garden sale last weekend at a garden club and was hit up by the local paper who was interviewing people about Father’s Day – she made the paper and her comment about our dad, who is now deceased what she liked best was: “His sense of responsibility, the fact that he could fix anything, and most of all, his love.”

    Dads are so important to their families and like you said, families are so important to dads.

    • #8
    • June 23, 2017, at 7:49 AM PDT
    • 2 likes
  9. jzdro Member
    jzdro

    Thank you to you three, too.

    And by the way, everybody, I think my Indian was a Comanche. Sweet, or what?

    • #9
    • June 23, 2017, at 9:12 AM PDT
    • 1 like

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