Because Jean and I have five kids, one of whom now has three little boys of her own, we take more than a passing interest in Mother\u2019s Day and Father\u2019s Day. One year, when my kids were younger, the National Father\u2019s Day Committee actually called to advise me that I was being named one of their \u201cFathers of the Year.\u201d I wrote a poem about it, which went like this:<\/p>\n
I confess to a certain pride
\nThat I won\u2019t attempt to hide.
\nI\u2019ll admit that it delighted me to hear
\nThat the Father\u2019s Day Committee,
\nWhich is based in New York City,
\nHas named me one of the Fathers of the Year.<\/p>\n
No, it\u2019s not the least bit bad
\nTo be honored as a dad.
\nAlthough, you may wonder what I did to win it.
\nIf you ask how I do it,
\nI will say there\u2019s nothing to it.
\nTo explain it now will only take a minute.<\/p>\n
It is absolutely true
\nThat there\u2019s nothing that I do
\nTo make the Father\u2019s Day Committee name me.
\nIt all has to do with Jean
\nAnd five kids named Kathleen,
\nWinston, Annie, Emily, and Jamie.<\/p>\n
Three lasses and two laddies,
\nI\u2019m the luckiest of daddies.
\nThey are wonderful as any kids could be.
\nAnd though often I\u2019m not there,
\nThey can hear me on the air
\nAnd also see me there on the TV.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sure Jean was pleased to hear
\nThat I\u2019m Father of the Year.
\nIt must thrill her as she goes about her life
\nTo be informed that I am such a splendid guy\u2014
\nAnd she\u2019s the Father of the Year\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n
Every morning she gets up
\nTo a day that never lets up
\nTo pack lunches for the kids to take to school.
\nShe does that every day,
\nAlthough I am far away.
\nI\u2019m long gone to work by that time,
\nAs a rule.<\/p>\n
Yes, it must seem really keen.
\nI\u2019m sure it must to Jean.
\nIt must fill her with satisfying cheer
\nTo hear that in the city
\nThe Father\u2019s Day Committee
\nHas picked me as a father of the year.<\/p>\n
When she drives them all to school,
\nTrying hard to keep her cool,
\nAs the rush hour traffic slowly moves along,
\nShe must give a little smile
\nAt this little daily trial
\nAnd wonder if she\u2019s doing something wrong.<\/p>\n
She tends to them when they\u2019re sick;
\nWhen they\u2019re hurt comes running quick.
\nIt is she who helps them with the violin.
\nI would do it if I could,
\nI am certain that I would,
\nWere it not that I am very seldom in.<\/p>\n
It is Jean who drives them places,
\nAnd makes sure they wash their faces,
\nAnd finds their missing jackets and their shoes.
\nIt is she who does it all,
\nWhile yours truly has the gall
\nTo be off somewhere gathering some news.<\/p>\n
Jean breaks up each fight,
\nReads stories every night,
\nAnd when they have troubles, takes time to hear.
\nShe does that, truth to tell,
\nAnd she does it all so well.
\nThat\u2019s why they named me Father of the Year.<\/p>\n
I eagerly await, any day now, a call from the National Grandfather\u2019s Day Committee. Jean will be so pleased.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Because Jean and I have five kids, one of whom now has three little boys of her own, we take more than a passing interest in Mother\u2019s Day and Father\u2019s Day. One year, when my kids were younger, the National Father\u2019s Day Committee actually called to advise me that I was being named one of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1036\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}