Today is Father's Day and it's been awhile since there has been some reflection on this site regarding family memories.
Back in the day when I was growing up and my brothers and myself would look forward to the summer months, the month of June meant school was out and of course, Father's Day came on the third Sunday that month and it usually meant cooking out in the back yard and enjoying the day with mom and dad. A couple of years during the 1970's, we even went to a Chicago Cubs or
White Sox baseball game on Father's Day. Dad was always more of a White
Sox fan while mom liked the Cubs better.
As time went by and we got older and eventually it was just myself and one of my older brothers as the two oldest moved out on their own (there were four of us and I'm the youngest) things were different and we would give dad a card and some sort of gift. He always seemed to appreciate them even though they weren't much (at least in my mind) but looking back those were special times.
Mom would always remind us to do something to help dad out (mowing the lawn, cleaning up after ourselves, etc.) to make things easier for him as he worked all week long to provide for all of us. Growing up in the late 1960's and the decade of the 70's was a unique time for sure.
No cellular phones or internet was around back then and usually we entertained ourselves playing baseball games and the like with the neighborhood kids and doing what we had to chore wise around the house.
Things always seem simpler when you're a youngster, probably because they were.
As time went by and my older brother eventually moved out, it was myself and mom and dad at home in the mid 1980's and mom and me would take dad out for dinner on Father's Day, where at least one or two of my older brothers would meet up with us and it would be a celebration for the day. That continued throughout the late 1980's and early 1990's.
In 1993, mom passed away in April (19th) and that was rough for dad and soon afterward he retired and a few years later sold the house in the south suburban area of Chicago we all knew for so many years and moved out to Elkhart, Indiana. One of his sisters (Aunt Jean) lived in Indiana and dad liked the open land area he moved to in the spring of 1998.
As the years continued to go by, all four of us brothers would make the trip to Elkhart and meet up with dad for the day on the third Sunday in June. From 1998 until 2003, we would go to the barbecue held by the local moose lodge dad joined up with in Indiana. The chicken was always delicious and it was a great time, even with dad having gone through the hardships of having one of his legs amputated above the knee early in 2000. We would pick him up and make a day of it and he enjoyed himself.
Dad's health would decline through the years and after 2004, when we just kept it simple with a backyard BBQ at his house in Elkhart, Father's Day consisted of taking dad to dinner at a local restaurant (Callahan's) that he really enjoyed. He would usually order the meatloaf with mashed potatoes and either string beans or carrots, which were his favorite vegetables. Dad always had a garden when we were young and grew numerous vegetables and of course tomato plants as well. He continued that even in his later years in Elkhart.
The last year we all got together for Father's Day was in 2011 and dad was in a nursing care center by then and all we could do was visit and then go to dinner (just us brothers) after the visit and reflect on year's past and hope for the best for our dad. He was 79 years old when he died in October that same year and one of our brothers (Gary, 50 years old) died a day after dad in late October due to health issues. That was rough for sure, but we always knew that dad had taught us through the years to keep moving on with life.
He would always joke about how when he "croaks" as he put it, we would have to carry on and continue on with our lives. Mom would get upset when he would say those things as I recall and say it wasn't funny to joke about that. But dad would do it nonetheless, always sure he would pass on before mom would.
Dad could be gentle, but he was more of a tough love kind of guy and that helped me out for sure in my life. Life isn't always going to go our way and we have to make the best of what we are given and earn our way through.
Dad showed us the way.
These days, it's just myself and my two older brothers (they're both long retired now) and Father's Day isn't such a big deal any longer. Ken (69 years old) lives nearby in the Chicago suburbs and is married and never had children while George, Jr. (67) has three kids and six grandchildren as he resides by himself now in Las Vegas.
Mom and Dad are both buried in the cemetery in Glenwood, Illinois (south suburb of Chicago) and Gary is there as well and the annual visit there on Mother's Day and Father's Day is how it is these days for me and as long as the weather is nice, I set up the grill and cook out in the back yard, just like the good old days with the family.
God Bless you all and here's to all the dads out there hopefully enjoying their special day with their kids and family.
Enjoy it now, because some day it will all be different.
Happy Father's Day!
