This Fathers' Day will be a strange experience for me. It's like no other before it; this year, I'll be experiencing Fathers' Day apart from my kids. Their package arrived a couple of days ago, with strict orders. Do not open this until Sunday.
Last year's celebration seems so distant, now. Things last year were just as everyone expected them to be, just as they had been before, year in, year out. Yet somehow, every last one of us seemed to put more into last year's event. I don't think any of us could have known this year's would be so different, and so difficult in many ways. So I'm sitting right here, this morning, with their package ready to open. I'm hoping I can get to talk to them all on the phone while I unwrap it. Or perhaps email them a movie of it. Or record it as a voice mail message. Or send them a photo from my phone. No, it won't be the same. But there'll be love, strength, courage, and above all hope that the sentiment is still there.
The call came, and we struggled through it, as I unwrapped lavish gifts from the kids; DVD's, books, video games... yet again they went to town on their old man. And photos, most importantly - both memories from the past, and things I've missed over the past couple of months. The first Fathers' Day after was hard; we were apart, and there'll be more occasions just like this one, but, through it all, there's the thought that there'll be other chances to celebrate together, in time to come.