JulieLeung.com: a life told in tidepools

I wrote a piece for Ted on Father’s Day. Other bloggers celebrated the dads in their lives too.

Here are a few excerpts from my favorite Father’s Day posts…

Heather Armstrong (dooce) praised her husband

The best part of my day is when Jon carries Leta back to the changing table after her bath, and she’s lying there wrapped in the towel, her hand shoved as far as she can get it into the back of her mouth. He leans down and pretends to eat her neck and she laughs like she laughs for no one else, a full-body laugh that shakes her belly and causes her to let go of her hand for a second. Her giggles fill the house and echo through the baby monitor into the living room and out to the street. I imagine that those echoing giggles are what the background music in heaven sound like.

Fred First posted the letter his son wrote him

For all the times you said, “if you throw that tennis racquet again, we’re going home,” and I threw the tennis racquet again, and we went home;

For that time you wanted to go hiking in the Smokies, and I wanted to go to Amy Harris’s pool party, and I pitched such a fit halfway to the Smokies that you turned the car around and drove us home at breakneck speeds, only to give in half an hour later after I pitched another fit, and we went to the Smokies, and had a nice time;

For beating me every time at every sport and every game, many years after I was sure I was better than you;

For the thirty-seven times you told me the name of the same green-metallic beetle, while each time I was thinking about some girl or some song I’d like to write, or some song I’d like to write about some girl, only half an hour later to see a green metallic beetle, and wonder what kind it was;

Halley Suitt remembered her father and described her love for men

I like their crazy projects — they do a lot of projects these men. I like the way they read the paper. I love the ones who still carry cloth hankerchiefs. I like sitting next to one in a meeting, peeking at the hair on the back of his hand, then on his wrist, then on his forearm, his sleeve rolled up and then trying to imagine how hairy he is under all those clothes. I love the bald ones too, especially them, they are fearless. I love the way men get up in front of a room and make some super boring Powerpoint slides actually slightly interesting. I like the way their hair sticks straight up sometimes. I like the way they get all moony and sloppy over watching Little League on a summer evening. I like the way they drive off with the family early on a holiday weekend in a stationwagon for some silly historic trip to Sturbridge Village. I like the way they let their kids hang all over them like they are a climbing structure in the playground. I like the way they worry about their families. I like the way cherish their old ratty tee-shirts. I love men.

Frank Paytner posted a great picture of his dad and his son together at his house yesterday.

Lisa Williams wrote

I still miss you and think about you all the time. Funny things you used to say – “Beeping under bridges is a sign of insanity, you know…[BEEP BEEP!]” Today what I remember is your warm physical presence, how nice it was to sit with you, to get a hug from you, and how often we did those things. I was really miserable after you died. You died too young. I used to have coffee with you nearly every morning; you were my good friend, and I hope I was a good friend to you.

Janece honored her father’s accomplishments

Just a few random memories of us:

— You holding the back of my green monster back while I learned to ride my first training wheel free bike
— You teaching me to float
— Riding in the shop van with my feet on the dashboard going to breakfast together in Klamath Falls
— You teaching me to drive the Ford Escort and how to work a stick shift on a hill
— You teaching me to change a flat tire – Thanks Dad! I’ve used that lesson no less than 4 times
— Your car not being in the garage when I got home especially late from being out with friends… going in to find out that you had gone out looking for me
— Collating, folding, stapling who knows what booklet with you in the wee hours of the morning to get that who knows what last minute bindry job done
— Being in the Rabbit on that icy road when the spinning car barely missed hitting and sending us off the road.
— You buying me Orange Crush out of the vending machine at Kraft Printers
— Playing pool in Brookings Oregon
— Taking care of our runt baby goat, Blackie
— Letting the rabbits in the house to play with the cats
— Driving to the hospital after you rototilled your foot
— Driving to the hospital after I broke my arm getting bucked off of Blue
— You & Mom giving me an ice bath when my fever was too high
— Watching the solar eclipse on our front porch
— Yummy homemade ice cream
— Snowmobiling down the mountain after being snowed in at TAU

Michael Hanscom posted the history of Father’s Day …which originated in Washington State!

The national day honoring fathers got its start in Washington state in 1910. After hearing a sermon honoring Mother’s Day, Sonora Dodd of Spokane decided to create one for men.

Her father, William Jackson Smart, was a Civil War veteran and farmer who raised six children alone after his wife died in childbirth. She wanted the day to coincide with Smart’s birthday on June 5, but ministers needed more time to prepare their messages, so it became the third Sunday in June.

I think that one of my favorites is Jeneane Sessum’s exhortation…:

There is something, isn’t there, when a daddy lifts his baby girl above his own head and she looks down at him on high–to see the part of his hair, his eyebrows from the top, the way his nose forms a ball at the tip.

[…]

Fathers, lift your daughters today. Spin them round if you can.

They will remember.