Our Father, Who Art In Heaven...

The Marketing machine has been in full swing..  Another "day" approaches.. A day to celebrate the contribution the most likely most maligned of beings..

The father.

Society will tell you he is simple, stupid... And that really Mummy knows best.

Social workers will tell you he is absent, or abusive..

Religion will tell you he is the head of the household, where the buck ultimately must stop.

And the facts will tell you, that for some, like me.. He is in Heaven, having departed the earthly realm..

It is the same for many of the "days" through out the year.. A missing family member at any occasion transforms a day of celebration into a day of Remembrance tinged with sadness.. The years will clock by, the sting will sting a little less each year, but will always remain..

So Sunday presents that challenge, whether alive but absent, or departed, our house will celebrate what our fathers have brought to our lives.. My boys will surely concoct some awesome acknowledgement of the day under watchful eye of my wife, or at school under careful eye of the teacher..

But the day will always turn to thoughts of our father, who art in Heaven..