For the past twenty-plus years I have basically been living a holiday-free life. I married a Jehovah’s Witness, and it is an article of faith with them to never celebrate worldly holidays of any kind.
This has always included Father’s Day. I have never celebrated Father’s Day in any way during the 22 years I have been a father.
Explaining why I no longer associate with Witnesses is complicated and began when illness started to take over my life and my family. And it wasn’t only my illnesses that took hold. Religion, to hold your faith and obedience, really needs to keep its promises. No matter how well-meaning they were in their doctrines, their decisions had the opposite effect on me.
So, a side benefit is a return to celebrating the things that everybody else celebrates.
My daughter is highly skilled at some online Japanese games. She won a few prizes and had them mailed here to us free from Japan. The action figure shown above is my original Father’s Day gift, a Star Wars Last Jedi figure in a box with only Japanese product information on the box.
And because my daughter felt so good about giving me a Father’s Day gift, and is also seriously bangarang at Japanese video games, she won me a second one that came on the Friday before Father’s Day. I feel blessed and loved by my children. And, honestly, I believe that is what holidays are actually for. Even the little ones.
