Image: sxc.hu

 One of Father’s favorite picnic spots was found at the top of a cliff overlooking the Hudson River and the mid-Hudson bridge across the river from Poughkeepsie.  (We lived in a farming town 15 miles east of there.)  Father would relax in his lawn chair, enjoy his lunch, and watch the boats plying the river. 

 Mother took us children for a walk around the area.  There was a place for cars to park and trails to follow.  As the sun began dipping into the western sky, we knew it was time to pack up and drive home again.  There was always the evening milking to do, even though it was Father’s Day.  And Sunday was the hired man’s day off.

Do you have Father’s Day memories?  Are you making Father’s Day memories that you and your children will recall?

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Dad’s Day, Picnics & Hudson River Memories

• For the dad of young children in the family.
• For grandfather…his life, achievements, and hobbies
• For uncles who play a special role in your children’s lives.
• For someone who has like a dad or grandfather in your family’s life.

What do you include?

• Photos of special events
• Photos, journal entries and memories
• Photos of an unfolding life
• Contributions from various family members

This can be a fun family project that recalls fond times and hard times and draws families closer together. 

I need to do one about my dad for family members, so children will remember him and his achievements.  I also must pull together photos and incidents from my husband’s life so our daughter and her children will know more about him.

Do you have any special projects surrounding the Dads in your life?

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Scrapbooking for Dad

Image: sxc.hu

•  Do the children make special gifts and cards?
• Do you cook favorite foods?
• Do you plan special activities for the day?
• Do you give Dad the day off to do just as he likes?
• Do you take walks with Dad.
• Do you go on a family picnic to Dad’s favorite fishing spot?

 Are there family rituals that you associate with Father’s Day in your family?

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How Do You Celebrate Father’s Day?

We were due to leave in mere hours, and Rick was at work, so I loaded up Truman and we hit Old Navy. The store is dangerously close to the house and the prices are so below reasonable that I knew if I picked out a pair he hated it wouldn’t hurt to tuck them in a drawer and forget about them. I did call Rick and ask if he had a preference in color – he prefers solid-colored suits. No Hawaiian flowers, nothing that’ll stand out in a crowd. He likes black, too. So I bought him this cute black swimsuit with white skulls all over it. Matches a pair of Truman’s boxer briefs!

Truman wanted in on the fun, so I let him pick out the other pair for his Daddy. Truman was immediately drawn to the American flag designs. I swear they cut up a real, nylon flag to make those things. Rick cringed, but because his darling boy so proudly presented them to him, Rick wore those screaming loud swim trunks on the beach. What a devoted Dad! I can’t wait to see what Truman picks out for Daddy for Father’s Day!

Photos, Old Navy

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All-Star Dad Wears Anything Son Picks Out

My dad is sooo cute!

Perhaps I was. I was running away from that little girl I always was. Trying to grow up. But unlike my mother, who claimed to have moved 2,000-plus miles from her parents to feel un-smothered for a change, I wanted to be smothered. I wanted to be flooded with undivided attention and pathetic love. I wanted to live in the nest of their security for…ever. Instead, my parents insisted I grow up. My senior year in college, my father told me that once I made it into college I would live outside the home. That if I considered going to a local college, I would still live in the dorm because, godbedamned, I needed some growing up. He was right.

And he loved me. He loved me the way enthusiasts love tall mountains to hike. He said I was programmed to be like he was – climbing at my own pace, stopping to take mental snapshots of the view at every other step. Enjoy life at every pass, he’d say. Once, when we walked together to Union Avenue get frozen yogurt, he told me that reality had far surpassed his dreams. And I remember that, the way I looked at our sneakered feet, keeping pace with each other, step-by-step. I wanted so much to be just like him. To find that peace that hung over his shoulders like a tallit.

Once, at our annual Christmas Eve party, someone asked me, “Who are you most like, your mother or father?” And before I could speak, my father answered. “Me. She is most like me.” And I glowed for week. A month. A lifetime. I glowed the way a firefly completely lights up a millimeter of space and time. That brilliant light that makes you wince and glean with pleasure because life is good and warm when fireflies light.

Becaue I am my father’s daughter, I moved 350 miles away. I thought it was what I was supposed to do. I left my family to follow a career  – the way my father did – which in my case was to Alabama, the only newspaper in a 350-mile radius that would hire me right out of college. And my life rooted here. I have a wonderful husband now. A beautiful son. My life may not have played out the way I had hoped or expected (I’ve yet to write that novel), but I eventually grew up. And isn’t that what a parent’s job is anyway?

If you ask and I were to reflect, I would say that yes, life has surpassed my dreams. I have found that inner peace my father spoke of. And in that respect, I am just like my Dad. 

Happy (belated) Birthday, pa!

photo, JWJourney 

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After All, I’m Just like Dad

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY

    Whether you’re a quilting dad, a supportive dad, anyone’s dad in the quilting world and elsewhere…I wish you a Happy Father’s Day!

This is a time to celebrate dads and remember our dad.  Even though my dad is no longer living, this day brings memories of him.  It’s a time for memories, for getting together, for making phone calls and sending cards, and even for forgiveness.

(Amazon image: click on book for details)

(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen

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Happy Father’s Day to All the Dads in the Quilting World