Father’s day is a difficult day for many, and we all approach the day in different ways.
It is seven in the morning on Father’s Day of 2021. I am sipping my morning coffee from my new favorite mug. On the front of the mug is the Gamecocks emblem for the University of South Carolina. On the back of the mug, a message reads, “I went to New Student Orientation and I got this mug…(and a bunch of really useful information).”
The mug makes me happy. I imagine that many fathers this morning have a new coffee mug waiting for them from their adorning children this morning. My own children took a great deal of pride in choosing a father’s day card and candy for their dad on our grocery shopping trip yesterday.
For me, Father’s Day is a day of reflection. My own father passed away in 2003, when my oldest son was just 6 months old. My son never got to meet the amazing man that he reminds us all so much of. I tell myself every year on Father’s Day that I am not sad, but if that were really the case I would not have skipped the running club this morning to avoid every discussing their plans to celebrate Father’s Day today.
For others, this is their first Father’s Day without their father or the children of their father. An amazing kid that my son graduated high school with in May will wake up for the first time this morning on Father’s Day without his father, who passed away just days before their high school graduation. Father’s day is a difficult day for many, and we all approach the day in different ways.
In my last post We Are Family, I weighed in on the latest MyBlankJob debate as to how people feel about their employers referring to them all as a family. A day like today, gives me yet another perspective on this debate. I love the company that I work for, but no one else is feeling how sad it makes me to think about the fact that my father never got to know his grand children. That said, my own day started with a prayer for the coworker that lost her husband just a month ago. Her young daughter will wake up today for Father’s day without a father.
As we return to the office tomorrow, let’s remember that many are feeling a sort of emotional hangover from Father’s Day. No, us coworkers are not family, but we are a team with a set of common goals. I believe that taking a moment to consider one another’s personal circumstances will make us all an even stronger team.
Happy Father’s day to all of the dads out there. Happy Father’s day to my own father. I miss you Dad.