Opinion : Happy Father's Day!

Tomorrow is Father's Day. Or depending on when you read this, today or yesterday is or was Father's Day.

I always have found it touching to find people my age and older who still miss their parents when they're gone. I know I do. Especially my daddy. Yep, he was always my "daddy." Having the genealogy bug, has put me in possession of a lot of old pictures. The more digging I do the more I am amazed by one seemingly constant thing on one side of my family. I haven't found the same thread in some of the others but I probably have dug deep enough. It doesn't mean that it didn't exist, I just haven't seen it spelled out in the history as strongly.

On my dad's side, there is a constant thread of church attendance, involvement in and a being part of some local church. This side goes back to the Quakers, which doesn't at all surprise me. Just so you know, according to this side of the family, I'm going to hell for things i do now that they would gasp at, I live such a wild life. (For those that know me, you are laughing because you know that is sooo not true!)

On the other side of my family I found involvement in politics. So that doesn't surprise me either really. I come by this stuff naturally I guess.

The more I dig and fine clues about my family, I think it reminds me the responsibility of every generation to "do it right." Make good choices. Be good people. Be faithful. Be fair. And yes, go to church.

I am constantly surprised by something I find when I get time to dig. I found an ancestor that was one of the early presidents of Rutgers University, I found a victim of the Salem witch trials, and family in the Civil War, Revolutionary War, supposedly we arrived on the Mayflower and all of these exciting events that would have sure made school a LOT more fun had I known it then!

All of that is really cool. But what I love is the great-great grandma that played the organ at her church. Another wrote all kinds of opinion pieces for her local newspaper I can relate to that too, just a little. But the notes about some of the meetings that the Quakers sat through, I can relate to those and think, "history really does repeat itself." But seeing the grandfathers that I knew and the great- grandfathers, and the grandmothers and the great grandma that I knew, also made an impression on me.

One great grandfather, never talked when I knew him. He was in a care center a couple hours away, yet my dad would bundle us in the car to spend a few hours just sitting beside him, and my dad would update him on the happenings. I remember his wheelchair and wondering about him. But I never really knew him.

But I knew my dad.

My all time favorite thing was to listen to my dad, grandpa, uncles and sometimes a great uncle swapping stories. The other kids would be in the basement. I would be in the corner of the livingroom just listening. The benefit of being the oldest grandchild and oldest great-grandchild I suppose. Sure, playing endless games of Milbourne, Skeeter, and other games were fun, but not AS fun as listening to these men talk.

One of the great uncles got sick, and again we'd pile into the car to go see him. He had red hair, I had red hair. He always made me laugh. He had a beard and looked just like my great great grandpa in the picture above.

All of these men played a role in my life. All of these men were hard-working honest men. All of these men thought church was important enough to uproot their families at times to start another church in a different part of Iowa but I'm not sure why. My dad also got in on the ground-floor of yet another church start just like his dad.

Sure, I don't always get all the things right in life. I am a bit snarky, sarcastic, and I know I'm not perfect. But I try to be. The more I dig around in the family trees, the more I agree with the "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." And I love it.

This year I feel a bit melancholy. I miss all of these men (and the wives that I knew). I miss the ability to be in the corner of the room just listening. Yet as I go to church tomorrow, I will be glad to see my son there with his little girls and know that other of my grandchildren will be in other churches with their dads and moms, and that I did a good job of passing along at least this one good thing.

I know walking into a church doesn't instantly make you a Christian, as much as standing in the garage doesn't make you a car. But as I both look back and look forward, I hope that some of the same beliefs and ideals are carried on for the generations that follow.

I say all of that to say this.

Happy Father's Day to all of you men out there who are doing it right. Happy Father's Day to the men who lead by example and break your neck to do the right thing in life. Thank you for loving your wives and kids and giving them a steady foundation. If you're a dad who drags or dragged them to church on Sunday, even when they didn't want to go, God bless you for that. Thank you for teaching them to work, to care for their neighbors, to help an elderly person, to open doors, to say please and thank you and for all of the good things you taught them.

Remember, what you do today, really WILL be remembered for generations to come. I mean at LEAST some 9 generations for me.

Thank you to all of the good men that are part of our community. Enjoy your day. You deserve it!