Fathers day ...

Its been Father's day here, which has been a little, well, odd. Let me start by saying I am not the Hallmark celebration type, particularly when it comes to parental days. I am all for honouring my parents, but not for a card with a schmaltzy message. Parental units days come with a whole bunch of iss-ews for me at the best of times and lately they have just been one more reminder that I was barren. You know, the one where the universe slaps you in the face and says "Gee, everyone is out doing family things WHICH YOU WILL NEVER GET TO PARTICIPATE IN - HAhAAAA. Have a nice day".

Like I said, my mother died when I was four, and my father, much as I adore him, is not really a manly man, more a dancing queen. Consequently, when I was little, parental unit days were divided into "look who doesn't have a mother day (its a fun game that all the family can play)" and "why doesn't anyone ever get me a powertool (ummm, cos you would chop your own leg off and why have you decided to suddenly need a chainsaw)". Until the hippy primary school stepped in and made everyone celebrate Primary Carer and Other Parent day. Oh, I kid you not. Everyone had to make a primary carer card and create a non-gender specific present. Hell, weren't the seventies fun, lets not do that again. Don't even talk to me about feminist nursery rhymes, scarred for life, I tells you, scarred for life.

This does have a point, this interesting ramble down memory lane, the point being, that Hallmark card days are never good for the 90% of society that doesn't fit into the nuclear family, the single parents, hell, the single (although they have their own special circle of hell, called Valentines day) the infertile, the families who are separated through distance or choice, those who have lost their children to death or are fighting disease. Generally, its crap.

Until this year, and Spot the Wonder Boy. If anyone ever wonders why I refer to my dear boy as Spot, try seeing him when he is excited. He bounces, he runs circles, he makes lots of noise. It really is apt, and it was hysterically funny on Sunday when he got a couple of messages from friends saying "happy father's day". We had already phoned all our fathers (he has a choice of two - see Hallmark works for that - NOT), and then texts starting coming for him. I'm not sure, but I think it was the first time that he thought of himself as a father in the present tense - that Bean is here now and doesn't seem to show any inclination to leave yet. Much weeping ensued, but the joy was contagious. Excited puppies usually are, and I think that I actually got excited for a brief moment before the impending sense of doom returned to the background. Still, it was nice to be excited. So, Happy Fathers Day to everyone, and enjoy your families.