Father's Day

On Friday Rich Miller of the Capitol Fax posed his question of the day in terms of the holiday that has creeped upon us this weekend, Father's Day. Miller asked his readers to "tell us a sweet story about your dad."

My response in that thread is as follows:

Some of the more interesting times my dad and I had was going to the area race tracks especially during the summer. We could go to Arlington, Sportsman's, Hawthorne, Maywood, and Balmoral. I thought about that when the Preakness was on TV last week.

I can go further than that of course.

I can talk about the days my father and I spent on the old Navy Pier. There was a stand or perhaps a shack where when we dropped by we could buy some "fish chips". This was way before the Pier was redeveloped and once upon a time we could park close to the lake where this establishment was. We could watch the seagulls and the waves of the lake.

Sometimes we might go over towards the Adler Planetarium. We might watch the planes land at Meigs. More likely my dad, mom, and myself would sit and enjoy the breeze off the lakefront. We would go there often during the summer.

My dad liked to drive around town and we'd be all over the city. We might be on the west side or the south side. We might even find ourselves out in the burbs somehow. I'm somewhat thankful for those times where he was able to work nights and his days would be free. Although to be honest, in 20/20 hindsight it would have been nice if he didn't have a lonely night job.

A lot of the comments in that post, discussed how they realized their dads where human. Well I certainly had a front row seat to that. Without saying too much some of my dad's human failings is why he isn't with us today.

It's been 11 years since he passed away. The city has changed in his absence. In some respects I've changed. At times I think that he should be here with us today and what that meant is that perhaps he should have changed. Who knows we'd be in the backyard BBQing together during the summer.