Sunday, June 21, 2009

Bob, To the World You Are a Father, To Us You Are the World

Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there! And to those of you with dads or husbands deployed this Father's Day, I'm thinking of you! Bob's out to sea yet again on Father's Day...this is the fourth year in a row. We wanted to try to make it special for him though, so we each colored a sign, and the girls were so excited to be in a picture just for him. You know, anyone an be a father, but it takes a really special guy to be a daddy. Every night Keanna and Sydney ask to kiss Daddy's picture, and over the last few weeks Keanna and Sydney have each started sleeping with a picture of him. It's so sweet to see when I check on them before I go to bed.

A driving force behind the establishment of the integration of Father's Day was Mrs. Sonora Smart Dodd, born in Creston, Washington. Her father, the Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, as a single parent reared his six children in Spokane, Washington. She was inspired by Anna Jarvis's efforts to establish Mother's Day. Although she initially suggested June 5, the
anniversary of her father's death, she did not provide the organizers with enough time to make arrangements, and the celebration was deferred to the third Sunday of June. The first June Father's Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910, in Spokane, WA, at the Spokane YMCA.

Unofficial support from such figures as William Jennings Bryan was immediate and widespread. President Woodrow Wilson was personally feted by his family in 1916. President Calvin Coolidge recommended it as a national holiday in 1924. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson made Father's Day a holiday to be celebrated on the third Sunday of June. The holiday was not officially recognized until 1972, during the presidency of Richard Nixon.

Everything Dad By Joanna Fuchs

A little girl needs her daddy / To love her with manly charm, / To soothe her when she’s hurt, / And keep her safe from harm.

A girl needs her dad / To show her a man who’s good, o help her make right choices, / As only a father could.

A woman needs her father / Just to be aware, / He’ll always be there for her / To sustain her and to care.

You’ve been all these things, Dad. / I hope that you can see / How much I treasure you; / You mean everything to me.

To Jack, Bob's father, and the best father-in-law a girl could ask for, hope you have a happy Father's Day tomorrow!

And last, but most certainly not least, I want to wish my father, Ron, a happy Father's Day!!!

Last year the girls and I took the same picture, so here's a side-by-side comparison. I'm kneeling this year, just like last year, and it's amazing to see how much they've grown and changed! Apparently they're not the only ones that have changed. My glasses have along with my hair getting longer; the table behind us is now on the other side of the room, we have window different treatments and I got the tonsu which now holds our collection of kokeshi dolls, some pictures and an obi as a runner.

6 comments:

Dollars to Yen said...

I knew Keanna had grown, but WOW!!! You guys have all changed! You look like you have lost a lot of weight too! Must be all the running to catch trains and climbing temple steps :)
Happy Father's Day!

Katie said...

Thanks, I can't believe how tall Keanna has gotten and how grown up Sydney looks compared to last year!
Yeah, I've lost a few pounds too...my friend has helped whooped my butt into shape ;)

Anonymous said...

Is the picture behind you from your wedding? It looks like your wearing a yellow or gold dress.

Jennie

Katie said...

Jennie, that's a prom picture - my senior prom in 1997. Bob was a 3/c (sophomore) at USNA and was able to come up to Connecticut for the weekend.

Anonymous said...

Hello,
Thank You for the Father's Day post.
Our "Daddy" is out to sea on a submarine too.(2 boys 5 and 3)
We are in Guam, but we love and miss Japan. We were stationed there many years ago.
I love your stories and pics!

Aoooogah!

Sherry
Guam

Anonymous said...

Looks like you lost some weight, good job.

Sorry your husband wasn't there for Father's Day. How do your daughters handle that? Does he miss a lot of holidays?