Father’s Day 2021

Happy Father’s Day to my Father.

In a previous post about Mother’s Day I mentioned that Anna Jarvis celebrated the first one a little over a 100 years ago. The next year Sonora Smart Dodd heard a sermon about Anna Jarvis and Mother’s Day and decided to create a day to also honor fathers. Father’s Day did not initially become a national holiday like Mother’s Day. Father’s Day did not become a permanent national holiday until 1972 when Richard Nixon signed it into law.

The spelling of the holiday gives the intent of the holiday. It is officially Father’s Day. This means that the day belongs to a father. The holiday is intended for a family to honor their own father.

Father's Day - My Father and Me - Holiday - Honoring Fathers

Here is a picture of me with my father shortly after I was born.

Wasn’t I such a cute little baby? Oh wait, this is about my Father. Doesn’t my Father look so proud holding his sweet little baby :-). This was taken at the farm we lived at near Wellman, Iowa. I am the only one of my siblings who was born when we lived on the farm. The others are all city kids ;-).

Dad and Me - Father's Day - Ottumwa, Iowa - Family sitting on tree

Here is a picture from a year or so later when we had moved to the big city of Ottumwa, Iowa. Here I am sitting with my father on a tree that he had cut down and was getting ready to cut into smaller pieces.

I learned so many things from my father about how to work with tools and also an understanding of mechanical principles. This knowledge comes in handy in my work today.

Father's Day - Dad the Jungle Gym - Honoring Fathers

While looking for the pictures of my father, I also saw this one. Here my father is acting as a jungle gym for my two sisters. This was in our kitchen in Iowa and just seeing this picture brings back some memories. Especially the hot-wheel track hanging on the wall by the door. Does anyone want to guess what it was used for?

I hope that all of my friends have a great Father’s day as they honor their Fathers or are honored as a Father.

Steven

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Olympic Trials = Track Memories

The Olympic Trials have begun and memories of sports have been flooding back.

Tonight the Track and Field Trials have started and I have been running down memory lane.

I started running the half and Mile in Jr. High and continued with the middle and long distance races in High School. I ran cross country and track my freshman year and lettered in both sports.

I have some great memories of my freshman year as it was great to watch some of the older athletes on the team and learn from them.

Another great memory of that year was winning the Iroquois League championship. About seven years ago they made all new banners for my hometown high school gym and I was able to acquire the old championship banner.

Iroquois League Champions - Track Banner - League Champion Banner - MemoriesEven as a freshman I helped contribute to the win as I placed in several events, including being on the 2-mile relay team that won the gold.  I am not sure when we started using metric designations, but we usually just referred to the old names for the races.2-mile relay team, track and field, league championsHere is our league championship 2-mile relay team

Boys League Champions - Track Championship Patch - Letter Jacket PatchI also have the patch that we were given for winning the championship. It is on the back of my letter jacket that is still hanging in one of my closets.

Letter Jacket - Block A - Ashland - Track and Field - Cross Country - BandI remember the new smell of the jacket. Luckily the jacket was a bit large when I received it as I had almost outgrown it by my Senior year. I remember wearing it at cold and windy track meets while waiting to run the half, mile, two mile or the two mile relay.

Kansas state track, 3200 meter relay, 2 mile relay, track and fieldOne of my best Track memories was our two mile relay team qualifying for State my senior year and running my last High School race in the Wichita State University stadium.

Bryan, beside me on the right end, and I ran together all four years on the 3200m relay and I have some great memories of our friendship.

Steven

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