My View: My Personal Father's Day

POSTED: 2:40 pm EST March 17, 2005
UPDATED: 3:02 pm EST March 17, 2005

Ten years ago, I held my dad in my arms as he took his final, peaceful breath in an upstate New York hospital bed. The image, the smell and the emotion will stay with me until I take my final breath. And I would have it no other way.

March 18 is my personal Father's Day. I don't much go in for the smaltzy, designated father's day atmosphere and forced feelings that June brings. My day holds special meaning.

My dad saw a lot in his 74 years. He lived through the Great Depression. It took it's toll, stealing his parent's jobs and his dad's life. My father, a young teenager drove a car at breakneck speed with his brother holding his dad in the back seat after he had suffered a stroke. After he died, my dad had to drop out of high school to help his family pay their bills and put food on the table.

He joined the Marines when World War II broke out and was gravely injured in the battle of Tarawa in the Pacific. Somehow, he put himself back together physically and emotionally. He went back to school and got a job. A couple of jobs in fact. He married my mom and as I grew up, he told me the stories of his life, punctuating each with a deeper meaning. No story ended badly or without a positive result or impact on him. And on me.

I learned about responsibility, duty to family and country, a hard day's work for honest pay, love, the value of a best friend and much, much more. His stories painted vivid pictures inside my head and left indelible marks on my mind, heart and soul.

These days, I find myself recounting important stories and events from my life for my own two teenage boys. I give them the good and the bad and I always... always make sure the story ends with a point. A focus. A reinforcing, positive result that they can take with them on their journey through this world. And yes, some of my stories are my dad's.

These are all private thoughts and feelings that perhaps I should have kept inside and shared only with those closest to my heart.

But you see, March 18th is a day of many emotions for me. And I know you...more than likely...have a day like that too. If not now, then someday. And if that is the case, my advice to you is simple.

Embrace life as it comes at you every day. Live every moment as if it were your last. Make a positive impact on as many people in your world as you can. Be open, honest and loving to the people you hold most dear.

And if you do those things... and you should tell your son or daughter that the most important thing they can ever do for you will be to hold you close as you take your final breath, you'll be blessed, just like my dad.

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