Father's Day 2008

Mother Nature welcomed Father's Day in our neck of Chicagoland with a thunderous ovation early this morning. We awoke to thunder, wind, and driving rain pounding on the house. So much for sleeping in, but I've never been a big fan of the "sleeping in" concept anyway, so Ma Nature's continued assault on the water-logged Midwest was no big deal. (Note to Mother Nature - listen, lady, give it a rest with the rain. It's enough already and we aren't even in a flood plain. Seriously, let us dry out, sister.)

I've never been too good about waiting for the surprise of breakfast in bed, so I got up showered, shaved, and ran outside to try and save my Sunday New York Times from a water-logged grave. It's 630PM Sunday as I write this and it's still drying out. Some of the more conservative readers o'the blog would argue that I'm not missing much, but I beg to differ. After my attempt at saving said paper, it was back to bed for breakfast. Yogurt and curry-seasoned scrambled eggs were on the menu. One can never, ever have enough curry so I was completely delighted. I opened my cards, and was told by my eldest to make it quick so she could go back to bed. This of course made me slow everything down. I got some boss gifts, including the Nike+ for my iPod so I can better track my running obsession. I was thrilled. Also got a very boss jar of seasoned salts from Williams-Sonoma for my food obsession. It's a really good thing that the running obsession now offsets the food obsession. I'd be in a world of hurt without it.

Got some religion today too. Burning Question - Why is it that on Mother's Day in our meetings the women are always honored with flowers or some such nicety and on Father's Day, the men get a whole lot of nothing? By and large, this has been my experience across the Church. That being lamented, I will say that we were spiritually fed to be certain, including a very good lesson in the EQuarrel about our roles as the Lord's emissaries - missionary work. And not the two years on a bike kind but the role we have today. It was a good discussion today.

After Church, we ran home to grab Courtney's suitcase and to get the spinach and orange pepper salad and it was off to the Peterson's for Father's Day Dinner. Can I just quickly mention what an incredibly awesome thing the orange bell pepper is to me? It's like candy. I love them and think they should be in pretty much every salad and all things grilled. I'm just saying...So it was dinner with the Stake President and his wife today, as well as another family from the ward. It was a really nice dinner and good conversation. We managed, OK I managed, to get through dinner without setting off the Offend-O-Meter, as far as I can tell. The Petersons are really wonderful and I am really impressed by their model of service.

Sister Peterson asked us each to speak briefly about our fathers. It was an honor for me to speak of my father and the example of service that he has been to me. My dad has taught from an early age what it means to be about the service of God and of my fellowman (it's an example I struggle to follow but I know the example is there for me to follow). In his example of service to God, I've seen blessings pour from the heavens and it's an example I would be wise to strive to follow at all times. My dad has fulfilled his divine calling as a father. I refer to the text of the "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" and what it says about fathers:
"By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families."

To my father, I say thank you.

It also gave me time to think of the other father's in my life. I thought much of my late father-in-law, Dick Thompson, today. I only knew this great mean (he raised an amazing daughter - a woman who has stuck with me for almost twenty years now) for a little more than four years but he has a profound influence on my life each and every day. He gave me his daughter many years ago and I promised him I'd always take care of her. I strive to fulfill that promise every day. I'm also grateful to Shari's stepfather, Paul Eckel, for the man he is and how he's been so wonderful to my mother-in-law and how he has blessed the lives of my children. He's been a blessing to us all.

And as Father's Day draws to a close, my family is heading all over the place. Shari and Sarah are packing as we speak for their flight Wednesday to get Sarah to BYU. Courtney flew out late this afternoon for Salt Lake City for three weeks. Parker and I will be lone men in the Garden of Eden, as it were, by mid-week. I do have to give a shout out to the Global Services staff at United Airlines at O'Hare. They rocked once again today. First of all, the private check-in is the BEST. Secondly, upgrading my daughter and priority tagging her bags when she's not flying with me was just cool. So even as the airline industry falls apart, there are still shreds of customer service humanity out there. Way to go!

BTW - No video today. Really couldn't come up with an appropriate 80's related, father-themed song. Unless you count Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach" and I really didn't think her hectoring her dad about teen-age pregnancy needed to go up.