Happy Father's Day

I know it's not today because today is Monday and Father's Day is always on a Sunday. But then again it wasn't yesterday either and apparently I'm the only one who didn't know this.

I had started thinking several days ago about what I should do for my dad, but of course I couldn't think of anything good. So on Friday I decided to head to the mall to see if I could find something. There I ran into Ellie Dixon in Lord & Taylor (they're having a large store closing sale) and I mentioned that I was looking for a present for my dad (not in Lord & Taylor, I just stopped in because they were having such a massive clearance sale). She said that her family didn't really celebrate Father's Day, not with presents or anything. Hmm, I thought. Since my family is extremely low-key when it comes to holidays (even the big ones like Christmas-- while the Dixons get all dressed up Christmas Eve and eat in the formal dining room, we make French toast the next morning and eat in our PJs), it seemed odd that here on a Hallmark holiday I would be one of those people in the mall thinking I needed to find a gift at the last minute.

Then (several minutes later) I had a revelation. I realized that we don't really celebrate Father's Day either, save for a pan of brownies (which we make for my dad on any occasion, which I guess would just be his birthday and Father's Day now that I think of it), a card, and maybe some lobster rolls out on the boat for lunch. I remembered that I didn't get my mom a present for Mother's Day; I had just sent a card.

So, the pressure off, I decided I would just whip up a batch of brownies and make a card. I had talked to Pam a few days ago and she said she would send a card we could both sign but it hadn't come yet and I figured she had been too busy with work to send it off in time. That night before I went out I made some brownies, joking about how it was hard to do surprise cooking when the kitchen was in the living room but then again how surprising was it anyway that I was making brownies when tomorrrow was Father's Day. When the brownies were done, I gave them to my dad with a card, wished him a happy Father's Day, and went on my way.

Yesterday afternoon my mom happened to mention that she had been talking to her friend the night before and had wished her "Happy Father's Day," which caused her friend to exclaim, "Oh no! It's not tomorrow is it?", concerned that it had somehow snuck up on her. My mom looked over at the calendar and saw that no, it wasn't until next week.

But you already knew that.