The Good Life – May-June 2020

FATHERS | MR. FULL-TIME DAD
A Father's Day
to Remember
WRITTEN BY: BEN HANSON
I hope I'm not the only one who doesn't recall
Father's Day having much of an impact on my
childhood. It's hard as a kid to get excited about
someone else's special day, watch them open
presents that aren't toys to play with and sit
through three meals of not-your-favorite foods.
Honestly, I still don't get all that excited for a
made-up holiday. There, I said it.
From my usual glass-is-half-empty
perspective, Father's Day is more or
less a trap for us fathers. We're told
it's our day to spend however we
wish, all while being showered with
presents and praise seemingly for
the previous year's job well done.
Trap, I say! What I really want,
if I'm being honest, is to lay in
bed for a while, go golfing,
take a couch nap, grill a
steak for dinner and watch
something R-rated in the
recliner… none of which
involves my offspring. If
the premise of the day
is me being a good
father, how can I ask
for what is essentially a day off from parenting and
not suffer from an above-average amount of guilt?
But this year is different. Much different.
As I sit writing this column in my home office —
now just "the office" — it's late March. We're still on
the uphill climb of the much talked about COVID-19
pandemic curve. The whole family has now been
self-isolating at home for three weeks, the first of
which was marked by a visit to the ER… the last by
a basement flooded with groundwater. It's been a
month, and I'm not sure the end is yet in sight.
Not to sound trite, but everything is different now
thanks to this tiny, powerful virus. Things may circle
back to normalcy, but even so, the memories of this
period will last our lifetimes and that normalcy may
still feel different.
In early March, before the full weight of the
situation had come crashing down, I posted this
on Twitter: "On the upside, the older you get the
fewer milestones your memory has the opportunity
to capture. This moment in time is rich in emotion.
Moments slow, suddenly important. This is a
milestone. This... is going to be a most unique
memory."
24 / THE GOOD LIFE / urbantoadmedia.com