Cannot believe today is my 3rd Father’s Day without my Dad. Very strange that it seems like he was just here.

Dad enjoyed the simpler things in life. Throughout my childhood and adulthood, in the morning we would walk to the Borough Hall for a delicious Father’s Day brunch. Dad loved the blueberry pancakes they served and looked forward to this brunch every year.

Then we would return home for Dad to open his presents. A favorite he would receive every year were homemade chocolate covered cherries from the local candy shop. He would always pass the box around to share with us. That’s usually the last time we saw those cherries.

We would just hang around the house all day. Dad would read his newspaper out on the deck. The trees would be blowing in the wind providing shade and the perfect breeze. Dad really enjoyed this.

Then Dad would go inside to watch his favorite baseball team play on TV, the New York Mets. After the game, he would always take the obligatory nap.

Then for dinner, some years we would go out to a restaurant. But most years, we would have a bar-b-que where Dad would man the grill. Mom finished with all the salads and corn on the cob while Dad cooked the burgers and hot dogs, to everyone’s preference.
After I was married, my husband took over the grill for Dad, giving Dad the chance to relax on his day. Those dinners out on the deck were the best!

Then we would have his favorite for dessert, strawberry shortcake. After we cleaned up, sometimes we would go out for a walk.

What I wouldn’t give for just one more Father’s Day exactly like this.

Then more recently while Mom & Dad were in assisted living, my husband and I would have brunch with them there, then later I would go out and bring back a lobster dinner for Mom (her last in 2018), a steak dinner for Dad along with dinners for my husband and I. Of course, we would have the required strawberry shortcake for dessert.

Then, unbeknownst to us, Father’s Day together with Dad in 2019 would be our last. My husband and I had brunch with Dad then later we took him out for a steak dinner to his favorite restaurant. His strawberry shortcake for dessert, of course, would be waiting for him in his room.

We almost made it to one more year in 2020; but Dad passed away from Covid on June 7th, two weeks before Father’s Day, my first without him.