Father’s Day is so different when you have an empty nest. A lot of the time the children are just not able to be home for special days like this. As in our case our children are not close enough to come home. Thank goodness for the internet! Phillip was able to video chat with our daughter earlier today and is video chatting with our son as I write this. This is amazing to me as my daughter is 300 miles away and my son is deployed and in Germany right now!
Father’s Day Memories
One thing that really helps is having memories of good times to look back on. There are so many from when our children were home with us. Talking about them always makes us happy and half the time we end up laughing at some silly thing that someone had said or done. There are many Father’s Days that we think about very fondly.
Phillip has always been the kind of dad that loved hanging out with our children. When the children were little he worked night shift just so he could be home when they got out of school. He would sleep while they were at school and get up about the time they got home. While they slept he worked. He was always there when they needed him. This was very important to Phillip. He never wanted to be one of those dads that weren’t ever around.
Vacations Are a Tradition
One thing Phillip always insisted on was at least one week long vacation every year. This was the one week when nothing else mattered in the world except our family. We usually went to the beach because that is something we all enjoyed very much.
This is something my husband is very proud of. He instilled the sense of family in our children from a very early age. Our children always knew that they had a father who loved them and loved being around them. They loved being around him too. He played with them and made them laugh all the time.
Now we are watching our children continue the tradition of vacations with their families. They know how important it is to spend that time to unwind and reconnect. Spending time together is important and in later years the memories will get you through the days when being together is just not possible.
Another Tradition
Here in Alabama college football is something that everyone pays attention to. You are either an Alabama fan or an Auburn fan. You are never both! Phillip, David are I are diehard Alabama fans while Cindy, our rebel, is an Auburn fan. We have spent many Saturdays together cheering on our team.
This year for father’s day our children got together and bought Phillip something he will cherish for the rest of his life.
Autographed Nick Saban Football
Yes, this is a football autographed by the one and only Nick Saban. If you know anything about college football then you know this is very special. Phillip was in shock when he got it. They weren’t able to be here this year but they made sure he knew they loved him and were thinking about him.
Getting the Football
This wasn’t easy to pull off either. Cindy found it here in Birmingham and got with Anna who talked to David about it and they agreed to go in together and get it. The catch was that I would have to do the transaction for them since they are not here. They sent me the money through Facebook messenger. Unfortunately, I had the wrong account hooked up and it went into the account I share with Phillip. Little white lie time!! I told him the money was for some exercise equipment that they were getting from someone here that I was going to pick up for them. I hated lying but it was a good cause and the truth would come out soon.
Anyway, I was able to get the football for them and when Cindy was visiting a couple of weekends ago she got David and Anna on video chat and gave him the football early. It wasn’t Father’s Day but to Phillip, it meant more than they will ever know.
The point of this is that sometimes you just have to go with what you can do and when you can do it. Your children aren’t always going to be able to be home for the special days. You can make the days they are home special.
Words of Wisdom
I asked Phillip this morning how he was doing without the children here with him. He smiled and said he was fine. He knew that his children were thinking about him and although he missed them they were in his heart. Then he said, ” in a hundred years nothing I have done will matter anymore except that I have raised two children who know the value of family. They will pass that on to their children and their children will do the same. They are my legacy and that is how I will be remembered.”
Happy Father’s day!
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