My Father's Day Birth

B"H

Yes, I hate to admit it, but I am the oldest of my siblings. Up until the day I was born, my parents weren't parents. I know that sort of sounds pretty obvious, but the reason I say that is because the day I was born was Father's Day.

My father must have been really excited when I was born, excited that he had a child -- when we were cleaning up to move from our home of 36 years, my mother found 6 birthday cards from my father to me dated one each month for the first 6 month of my life.

My father is very hard to shop for (after all, how can I ever beat his first Father's Day?). Part of the problem is that my father just doesn't like new things -- most of the things I've bought for him have still never been used.

One year, I decided that I would try making him something (since I had already crocheted several kippot (yarmulkes -- skull caps) -- I made him a kippa with laboratory symbols (he was a research pharmacist before he retired), one with roses (for my sister's wedding), one with "bird of paradise" flowers (for my brother's wedding 6 months later), one that was black and gold and perhaps one or two others. He still wears them for special occasions. So I crocheted him a white tie, but he never wore it. I have it now and I have worn it.

But there was one gift I gave him that he actually used and that was a siddur (prayer book) that I bought for him the first time I was in Israel. At the time, he used to go to synagogue twice a day, so the siddur came in handy (he kept it in his tallit (prayer shawl) bag, which he brought with him to synagogue every morning.

My late cousin, Hindy, used to tell this Father's Day story about her father:

One Father's Day, Uncle Phil used to say, he and his friends were having a discussion, bragging about what their children had bought them as gifts for Father's Day. One friend said, "My children bought me a Mercedes." Another friend said, "My children bought me an Island in the Caribbean." Uncle Phil, never at a loss for words, said, "Well, my children couldn't decide whether to get me a Mercedes or an Island, so they voted and it was a tie, so that's what they got me, a tie."

For those of you who are wondering, z"l in the title stands for the Hebrew "Zikhrono Livrakha" -- May he be remembered for a blessing -- added to the names of people who have passed away.

As I mentioned, I have difficulty buying things for my father.

"Art Now" is another "Print on Demand" site. They have a nice collection of clocks and watches, including the one pictured here. Click on the picture to see the entire site.