Poll: Help me name an important event
For years I’ve struggled with Father’s Day. It was a reminder of a difficult relationship and a tough problem that I couldn’t resolve. In writing The Ghost of My Father I’ve heard from many people who have similar feelings when the day arrives in June. 30% of American children grow up without knowing their fathers, and 27% of adults are estranged from their dads.
The plan: a live online event before Fathers day for people to connect, get support, advice and stories that help. It will include a simple website with resources, book reviews and more. It’d be open to anyone in any situation that makes them feel sad during Father’s day.
Help I need:
- I’m looking for suggestions for names for the day. Vote below please?
- Volunteers to help organize the event and the website. Leave a comment or email me if you’re interested.
I wonder if you meant to write chosenFamilyDay?
Dada daddy day?
Of all of those I like ChosenFamily Day. The others are negatives. Thoughts that came to mind are SelfParent, Re-Parent, etc. Otherwise I would go with semi-humorous like MyCrapDad Day, CrappyDad Day, etc.
FWIW I know they are in our face, but these days have become overblown, which in my opinion increases the crap feeling for those who had awful dad experiences.
Every year it comes back this feeling, and so, last year, I wrote a Blues for those among us who share the Father’s blues …
Father’s Day Blues
A time to celebrate and remember fathers … For many, Father’s Day is a joyous occasion of course, but for many others it is an all together different occasion … And when the day comes around we feel a special kind of blues, one you could call the Father’s Day Blues.
For me the day has taken different forms over the years … a day I celebrated, a day I mocked, a day I cursed, a day I pulled daggers out of my body, a day I forgot existed, a day I practiced indifference, a day I made peace with …
I know for having lived long enough, and paid attention to people’s hearts and souls, that I’m hardly alone to feel the Father’s Day Blues, which of course, is not a day’s blues but a blues for many seasons, and, sometimes, a blues for life …
And so, despite ourselves, unwillingly, whether we even acknowledge it or not, on this day many of us feel the Father’s Day Blues …
of absent fathers
of workaholic fathers
of mean and violent fathers
of fathers who just didn’t know any better
of fathers we never had
of alcoholic and addicted fathers
of dead-beats and womanizers
of narcissistic and dictatorial fathers
of broken and depressed fathers
of fathers who never got over being fatherless …
And on and on it goes …
To each his own tune,
To each his own story,
To each his own voice,
Everyone different, and yet
Everyone, together,
reluctantly singing
that old universal song:
The Father’s Day Blues.
Thinking of you, Scott
Its quite shocking that 30% of children are growing without father and that number is increasing, the technology is increasing and don’t know why its impacting on the relationship.