We all saw it coming. It’s after Mother’s Day… Has a lot to do with ties and golfing… Yup. Father’s Day! Surprise!

I have to admit, after Mother’s Day, I’m exhausted. It’s an emotional process, getting your mom the perfect, most thoughtful gift so she knows how much you mean to her and how much you pay attention to her and the things she likes. Not to mention it’s a gage of how much you truly love her!! Just kidding.

Can you tell I’m having flashbacks of the trauma? The twitch is real.

Then when you somewhat recover – BAM! – you’re slapped with Father’s Day. I’m not complaining. I’m sure I’d complain even if the days were far apart. I just want to know why they are so close together.

To set the record straight, I do love my parents.

Father’s Day is a unique celebration in and of itself, because you don’t know how people will react to it, positively or negatively. In some cases the same can happen for Mother’s Day, but on the general, Mother’s Day is all kisses and mailed flowers and smiles.

Father’s Day can have so many emotions and agendas underlying it, it’s scary. Some people hate their father. Some people pretend to like him for that day only to make Mom happy. Some people don’t even know their father and have to paste on fake smiles for the ones who do. Some people have a father that’s never around. And some people have a great father. There’s some I didn’t even mention.

Mother’s Day doesn’t really have that.

Drama, anger, gossip, fake emotions… It’s like a soap opera.

Only on Father’s Day… And Valentines Day.

Father’s are a big deal. That’s why this day can spark so many strong emotions. Father’s are the biggest teachers in the relationships we are to have when we’re older. He teaches his sons how they should act around their friends and how to love their wives. He teaches his daughters what kind of man they can look forward to marrying, one that treats his wife the way their father treats their mom, and not to settle on anything less.

A lot of people stumble in life when that father-child bond is broken.

One prison was supplied with a certain amount of cards for Mother’s Day. So many were used that they had to order two or three times more cards than what they had originally asked for. For Father’s Day, believing they were thinking ahead, the prison ordered double the amount of cards again. Only a few were used.

Father’s are important. This may be coming from a nineteen year old girl, but if you’re a father, that’s the biggest and most important job you have. Your kids. Your family. Young people with lives and emotions and dreams and fears. If you don’t care, remember this: they are human beings, just like you, and your boss, and your shareholders, and your coach. The only difference is that they depend on you — one hundred and fifty percent. You have to care.

Everyone in the family looks up to the father. It isn’t an obligation to him. They just want him to be real and do something so they have an opportunity to back him up.

Have I said Father’s are important yet? Father’s are important.

It’s a gift men get once little junior comes along.

I think it’s easy for dads to forget the gift and get too bogged down by work, providing for the family, or the pressure of  not wanting to screw up their kids.

They forget about camping and dirt bikes, and how it’s okay to take wild animals home, or the ten second rule. Sports. Or taking their little ballerinas to class. That’s the fun stuff! And the memories.

Anyway, I encourage Dads out there. Don’t ever see your family as a burden. They’re a bundle of lovable fun. And kids, show your dad that you don’t take him for granted and that you love him. Even if you’re one of the ones that struggle to find something good about your dad, find that ONE thing, maybe a sense of adventure, or the fact that he’s stuck around, and thank him for it.

You may just touch his heart.

And for all the fathers out there, thank you for doing what you do.