Happy Father’s Day to you. Happy father’s day to me!
I know you are expecting me to rail against the celebration of another commercialized pseudo American holiday like Father’s Day. Yet, like the rest of America, I too celebrate father’s day.
Actually, today, I celebrate my 6,559 father’s day. Yes, I have celebrated 6,559 father’s days. Keep reading and you will understand how I have managed to celebrate so many father’s days in the event that you are already lost.
As I mentioned earlier, like you I do celebrate father’s day however, unlike most fathers, I don’t require anything different from that which I received the day before father’s day or anything different from that which I will receive the day after father’s day. I don’t require any of the stuff that Madison Avenue and TV advertisements would try to convince us that fathers need to make the day special.
Nope, I don’t need a new tie, a new suit, a new watch, a new wallet, a new golf club, a special dinner at my favorite restaurant… I don’t want tickets to the next big game, a new house, a new car or anything shiny and new… Plain and simple, I don’t require nor do I want anything new.
Every Day is Father’s Day
This father’s day just like each day of my previous 6,559 days is already made special by the gift that I first received on June 27, 1995. In fact, the gift I received in June of 1995 was not only the best Father’s Day gift ever but it remains the best gift of any kind that I have ever been given. Although, the gift arrived after Father’s Day which was on June 18th in 1995 and before Father’s Day of 1996, it is still my most cherished gift.
The gift that I received on that day is a gift that has taught me the most about myself. The gift has forced me to do more self-reflection than I would ever have previously considered. The gift helped me to understand what is really important and what legacy means. Each day that gift helps me to learn new things about it, myself and this thing we call “life”.
In short, the late 1995 and early 1996 Father’s Day Gift helped me to become a better man and 6,559 days later the gift still provides me with insurmountable happiness and indescribable joy. What a gift!
Three Questions
First, can you purchase this gift online, at a department store or have it prepared by your favorite restaurant? Absolutely not! Second, what could I have possibly received on my first father’s day that was better than any other gift imaginable? I’ll give you a hint, it continues to eat and sleep in my home; it is by no means free! Third, what Father’s Day gift has the ability to give and keeps on giving 6,559 days and counting? I’ll give you a second hint. See the first hint.
I know how smart you are and you guessed what “it” is already. The gift is in fact not an “it” at all. The gift is not a thing, the gift is a he. He, the Greatest Gift Ever Given to Me, is my son, Naeem.
Without Question He is the Greatest Gift Ever
Being a father is the greatest gift that I have ever been given. Being my son’s father is by far the best thing that I have ever done or shall ever know or do. Seeing and hearing my son call me dad seventeen years later with the same love, reverence, gleam and devotion that he looked and said it to me when he first learned to speak makes anything sold online, retailed at a department store or served in a restaurant simply insignificant.
Quite honestly, everything in life pales in comparison to the love I feel for my son. All things finish a distant second to our manly yet heart-felt hugs. Nothing compares to knowing the faith, hope and trust he places in me and the devotion and commitment I have to ensure that his dreams become his reality and that his capacity as a man far exceeds anything that I or the ancestors could have imagined. In the words of Tina Turner, my June 27, 1995 gift is simply the best, better than all the rest!
Nothing and No One is Perfect
Not to be misunderstood my gift is not flawless. Although the gift is not perfect and comes with its own set of trials and tribulations, the relationship that I have with my son is the kind of connection I wish every father and child would share. I believe Will Smith describes our relationship in his 1998 hit, Just the Two of Us.
The rapport that I have with my baby boy makes it possible for me to refuse any and all Father’s Day gifts. I simply have no need for additional gifts, my June 27, 1995 gift is reward enough.
The rewards endowed from my Greatest Gift are now and have always been prolific. My Greatest Gift has done more for me through his exemplary behavior and commendable character during my 6,559 father’s days than any gift purchased online, bought from a retailer or prepared at my favorite restaurant. If my time on this earth was concluded, I could rest easy knowing that I, the tree, would be known and remembered by my son, the fruit.
My son has never embarrassed me. More importantly, he has never embarrassed himself. He has endeavored to live up to his name, Naeem Khari which means Benevolent King. He has achieved at the highest level academically and athletically. He has taken on social causes such as teen homelessness and healthcare reform locally and nationally attempting to make the World a better place. He knows and respects the history of his people and as such has undertaken to be an encouraging statistic. He understands the significance of today’s global era: what it means to be a citizen of the World, has lived abroad and is proficient in multiple languages.
Thanks to my son, if I die today I would be remembered favorably. What a gift!
Really, I’m Good…Nothing For Me!
So like I’ve been saying who needs Father’s Day when you have father’s day every day. How could one who has been so blessed with a wonderful son and whose life continues to be made prosperous by his offspring’s presence expect, need or accept any additional gifts on the third Sunday in June?
Not only has my son been my Greatest Gift but in the spirit of the movie that inspired me to become a father, my son continues to think the world of me, I remain his pal and he is my best friend. And with this colloquy, I pray that I will wake tomorrow morning as I did this morning. Like all 6,559 mornings since the 27th of June 1995, I awoke saying “Happy Father’s Day to me again!” What a gift!
Do you need any additional gift than to be a Father on Father’s Day? How will you be remembered by your fruit or by your shiny, new Father’s Day gift?