General, Holidays

Daddio Day

Posted on by Darren
09
Jun
Father’s day is soon approaching, and we’re seeing lots of great custom father’s day gift requests from our customers. It gets me thinking about dads everywhere, and the impact they have on the lives of their children. I’m delighted to see how these fathers and step-fathers have inspired, provided for, supported, and nurtured so many. 

As a father myself, I’m inspired daily by my little girl. At times I sit in wonder at her insight, and I marvel at her creativity. She is a total daddy’s girl, my little shadow. Spending time with her takes me back to a time when life was all rainbows, butterflies, throwing rocks, and making mud pies. I don’t spend nearly as much quality time with her as I should. I find myself saying, I have things to do, or why don’t you do this, while I do that. I often remind myself of the dad in the song, Cat’s in the Cradle, by Harry Chapin. Not good.

My wild child
Me as a child.
I realize now that I have very few memories of spending time with my father, outside of the occasional fishing trip to the lake. As a child, I spent a lot of time on my grandmother’s farm, where there were no shortages of things to get into, like canals, barns full of hay, the old fire-ravaged granary, horse corrals, pig pens, chicken coops, and plenty of barnyard animals to chase or avoid as the case may be. Yes, I’m talking about you, crazy rooster. 
The farm was a big part of my childhood. In my adult years, a construction company purchased most of the property and turned it into an equipment yard. They razed the barn and horse corrals. The chicken coops are gone, along with the large garden, the pigpen, the fields where the sheep and cows grazed. The only remnants are the house my grandmother lived in, and the burned out old granary that, to this day, shows evidence of our childhood haunted house.
Our local river parkway.

I would have loved to take my daughter to see the farm, where I could tell her about all the adventures I had growing up. But, she has been asking me to take her to see a river. Since now is the time for her to make childhood memories, and there is a river that runs through my town, I believe it’s time for a new family adventure.

Darren

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