Give dad a hug!

I’ve always loved Mark Twain’s down-home, folksy advice.

• “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”
• “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”
• “When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.”
• “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”
• “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.”

When I was young elementary school student, I fibbed to a teacher about the reason why my homework wasn’t done. I forget a lot of the details, but I remember my reason stretched the bounds of believability. The dog didn’t just eat my homework, but my dog ate it and then aliens came down to Earth and abducted my dog. Those darn Aliens! Ya can’t take them anywhere.

My teacher let me off scott-free, she was a kind, generous woman. Looking back, I hope I made her day with my little story. I hope she got a good laugh. Before letting me off, though, she mentioned Twain’s quote about telling the truth and I’ve never forgotten it.

While I love the quote, My favorite is another. I think Twain really hit the nail on the head with his advice about his father. “When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.”

I know my father became much smarter in my own eyes when I started a family of my own and had to deal with many of life’s challenges. Some of the trivial things that used to bother me about him, didn’t bother me anymore. I wonder sometimes where I stand now in my own kids’ eyes. They, at least, have the intelligence to keep their thoughts to themselves. Yes, they are smarter than me!

Anyway, Father’s Day is celebrated annually on the third Sunday in June (June 18 this year) in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India, and a number of other countries around the world. I’ll be thinking about my father who passed away close to twenty years ago, my father-in-law who has been a second father to me, and father’s everywhere.

If you can, give your father (or whoever has played that role in your life) a call and let them know how they helped you and how much they mean to you. Happy Father’s Day.

Image by Pixabay.

Image by Pixabay.

Image by Pixabay.

Image by Pixabay.

Image by Pixabay.