Father's Day
It’s father’s day! I’ve been a dad for a few years now, which doesn’t make me an expert by any stretch, but is apparently qualifying enough that Emily asked me to write this post. Also I have a pretty solid dad myself. Here’s what I know about being a dad:
1. It’s really fun
2. It’s sometimes rather impossible
3. It’s a hell of a lot easier and less fraught than being a mom
4. It’s nonetheless very important
Given number three, father’s day feels rather irrelevant compared to mother’s day, so I tend to feel a little sheepish about it being celebrated at all. But hey, let’s not let that stop us! Bring on the pie!
Since father’s day tends to bring out the most stereotypical impulses in our consumer-society-cultural-marketing-apparatus, I like to respond by fully (if a bit ironically) inhabiting the stereotype. So here’s what I want for father’s day:
1. A tie clip
2. Breakfast in bed
3. Power tools and/or a wheelbarrow
4. Dinner on the deck featuring me as grill master
5. A nice dram of whiskey
I could offer a host of more sensitive ideas, but who am I kidding? I make whiskey! I wear boots! I have calluses! I’m a walking embodiment of bearded working-manliness. At least that’s what Emily let’s me believe about myself while she does all the real work.
So for this father’s day, at the very least pick your dad up a bottle of whiskey. I’m partial to our Iron Range American Single Malt, which you can still buy at the distillery. Or make a less conventional pick and grab a bottle of Voyageur Aquavit, which is essentially whiskey for Vikings, and is available at most decent liquor stores in MN and WI and a few other states besides. That way you’ll support our family so I can go on being a dad.
But then probably also do what I’m actually hoping for this father’s day. Spend the day hanging out with your family. Go for some walks. Play on a swingset. Run through a sprinkler. And pretend it’s mother’s day by pulling your actual weight.
Happy father’s day fellas.
-Joel