Fathers Day

Hey Everybody, I wanted to pause are regularly scheduled blogs to say Happy Father’s Day! I’m hoping I don’t catch anyone by surprise when I say this Sunday, June 23 is Father’s day. Every June there are sales in camping, fishing, and grilling, which while great for the outdoorsy types, is not what this day is about. Father’s day is about the lessons we are taught by our father figures while doing these outdoor actives and within our day-to-day lives. Fathers play a crucial role in every child’s life, whether as an asset or otherwise. We look to our fathers to show us how to be in the world and what to accept from it.

My dad was the first person (I recall) shutting down societal beauty standards for me and sowing the seeds of feminism in my life. We went canoeing when I was in my early teens and I was so worried because I had forgotten to shave my legs. I can still hear his voice echoing in my head when he said “That does not make you any less of a women”. As children we are so impressionable, if this conversation went a different way who’s to say how long it would have taken for me to come around to that on my own.

I am also lucky this year to be celebrating my own baby’s father. If there was a real father of the year award he would win. He has been amazing with this transition into parenthood.

Father figures are not just biological dads, they can be uncles, grandpas, close family friends, step-dads, even your mom or internet figures like ‘Dad, how do I?’. Don’t get trapped in the idea that we can only celebrate one individual, this is a celebration of all our fatherly figures. I want to remind all of the young and future fathers that life is made in these moments. I also want to thank all dads and father figures that have been engaged and involved in their children’s lives. Including thanking my own. I am more thankful for him then words can describe. So go out there and thank the people in your lives that are father figures to you!