Happy Father's Day to all the other dads out there! What's your son up to this summer, SC?
This dad stuff just keeps getting better. My son (who turns 6 next month) and I were playing a fairly complex game called Mermaid Beach last night. It's got good and bad mermaids, sea monsters, waves, seaweed, beach toys, and other fun stuff, and in the past few months he's gone from finding a game like this being a real challenge, to being a skilled player. It's a real joy to see him take big steps forward like that. Can't believe the kid starts first grade in the fall.
We'll be going over for Father's Day brunch with my dad later this morning, and that's kind of bittersweet: at just shy of 88, it's increasingly clear that there probably won't be many more Father's Days with him. He's been fighting Parkinson's through most of his 80s, and the combination of that and the normal slings and arrows of old age are really starting to limit him physically. My stepmom, who is 12 years younger than he is, is having a big 88th birthday party for him in a couple of weeks, and it's hard to miss the subtext that she's doing this because she doesn't expect him to be well enough to really enjoy a big party at 90.
My dad and I have had a very complicated relationship over the years (among other things, he once threatened to disown me, and I responded by walking out of his life for a year and a half), but we somehow found our peace with each other about a decade back. There's still a lot we don't see eye to eye on, but those things have become less important to us than the things we share.
So that's my Father's Day. How are yours shaping up?