Happy Tie Day

Today is the day we honor our fathers in some form. Someone on Madison Avenue decided to market a neck tie as the perfect Father’s Day gift and the day has always been associated with a tie. Great work on whomever’s part.

A neck tie for my Dad would have been a useful gift. He’s a funeral director that has been through fifty plus years worth of ties in his career. Mom would encourage us to find something different than a tie because it would be a reminder of work. She would point us in the right direction and in most cases she had something already picked out. He had few hobbies when we were young, so there weren’t any obvious hints he could drop. He didn’t take up golf until I was grown and I pulled him out on the green a few times. Now days he spends his time “piddling with those old cars”. Shopping for him become easier has he has aged.

The bad thing about being a funeral director is that the job doesn’t take a holiday. Growing up we would see Christmas, Easter, Fourth of July, even Father’s Day could be postponed for a funeral, a death call or so he could attend to the needs of a family who may have lost their father. Dad had other employees that could have taken care of matters and he take the day off, but he didn’t. He has always had strong sense duty to his profession and the families that came to him over the last half century. That was probably the one lesson that he taught my brother and me growing up – take care of the job that provides for your family.

Dad is planning on spending Father’s Dad with a cookout up in the mountains back home. The weather certainly looks agreeable to burn some hamburgers, tell of a few stories and swatting the insects. I’m not going to be able to make to Newport for the Father’s Day cookout. I think he understands the reason, it was something he taught me.