Monday, June 16, 2014

Confessions of a Father's Day Dropout by David Kitz

 This morning I dropped my wife off at the Ottawa airport. As I write these words, she is winging her way to Edmonton, where she will spend Father's Day with her eighty-seven year-old dad. I'm delighted that she can spend a week reconnecting with him in that special daughter to father bond.


As an only daughter, it has not been easy for Karen to live so far from her father. This has been especially true over the last ten years, ever since her mother passed away. Dad Burgess has had to learn how to fend for himself—not an easy task when you reach your eighties with no immediate family nearby. Fortunately, he has managed quite well. I spent a few days with him while on a ministry trip to Edmonton in March, but now it's Karen's turn to enjoy his company.

My father-in-law's gain is my loss. While Karen is making her dad's Father's Day special, mine will be a bit bleak without her. There is nothing unusual about that for me. Over the last few years I have often been absent or on the road for Father's Day. Call me a Father's Day dropout.

I'll blame the Write Canada Conference for that absence. Invariably the Write Canada Conference falls on the Father's Day weekend. Though the conference ends on Saturday, I usually choose to stay in southwestern Ontario another day to minister at a church in the area. The net result is that I don't arrive back in Ottawa until late Sunday evening—too late for a Father's Day celebration.

But fathers are worth celebrating on any day. Yesterday, Karen walked up to me with a large shopping bag. She said, "Reach inside. Go fish."

"Go fish?" Here is what I found:
 
I love those smiling wooden fish. Even more than that, I love the one who gave them to me—the one who made me a father. As for my two sons, one called me as I drove home Sunday evening and the other dropped in with his wife, a gift, and a hug five minutes after I arrived home.

David Kitz is an ordained minister and Bible dramatist with the Foursquare Gospel Church of Canada: http://www.foursquare.ca/ For details on his book and drama ministry visit http://davidkitz.ca/




  

4 comments:

Glynis said...

Good that you can celebrate Father's Day with your lovely wife and family at other times other than on the designated day! Sounds like you all have a pretty good 'family' understanding of the situation. Hope you day was blessed all things considered. Glad you shared your heart, too.

Fern Boldt said...

I read your book, "Little Froggy," to my five-year-old granddaughter on Father's Day. She loved it! I will give a copy to my great-granddaughter this weekend. Bless you!

Peter Black said...

A lovely post David. It's heartening to see that you and your wife and family allow you the ease to be absent and that you are close despite any distance, because of stable, loving relationships. ~~+~~

Peter Black said...
This comment has been removed by the author.

Popular Posts