My sister got married recently, and while she and her now-husband certainly were and are the focus of the day, there are two other people who emerged as heroic, and this column is the perfect time to applaud them: my dad and my husband.
Dad is his best self when he’s in dad mode, and it was on full display during the wedding trip (the wedding was in Ireland). From making any and all arrangements that my sister asked him to, to making final payments to all the vendors once in Ireland, to doing all of the Father of the Bride bits, he was in his element, and he knocked it out of the park. We’ll be talking for a long time about how he masterfully managed the shuttles from the hotel to the cathedral and back again for the bride and groom, wedding party, and guests for both the rehearsal and the wedding—a complicated arrangement that had to take into account various combinations of passengers, increased traffic because of a bank holiday weekend, and the schedule of events on the night of the rehearsal and on the wedding day itself—and he did all of it sight unseen, from home. Dad dealt with the interesting challenge of paying vendors who wouldn’t accept credit cards—he can now tell you the ins and outs and dirty details of trying to get large amounts of dollars changed to Euros in Ireland. He cut a handsome (and emotional!) figure with my sister on his arm when he walked her down the aisle; the guests loved that he made a speech that incorporated their participation; and he took special care in choosing the song he and my sister danced to. As at my wedding, he was the best possible Father of the Bride.
I wouldn’t have been able to go to the wedding if it weren’t for my husband. An overseas trip with a baby is no small feat, and doing so during our family’s busiest time of year, with the end of the school year looming and baseball still in full swing, is extra difficult and not easy to hand off to someone else. Fortunately, my husband is so hands on that there was barely a ripple in our normal goings on while I was away. He did all the school drop offs and pickups, the baseball games, the grocery shopping, the meals, the homework checks, the laundry, and church, and also thought of fun things to do on top of the normal routine. When I first told my boys that I’d be going to Ireland for their aunt’s wedding, they asked, “Who’s going to take care of us?” When I told them their dad would be doing it all, they whooped and hollered for joy, and (unsurprisingly) they loved their time with him while I was gone. To get away from the wedding for a minute, I also have to add that he did all that as well when the baby was born last fall. My emergency c-section took much longer to recover from than I expected, and my husband handled everything for those first few weeks while I focused on me and the baby. He even made dinner every night until the baby was four months old and I was feeling more up to it. I’m so grateful to have a husband who is willing and able to do it all.
Every Father’s Day is a great opportunity to honor these two men, but this year has an extra something special because of the extra feats of fatherhood done by my dad and hubby since last Father’s Day. My family and I are so lucky to have them, and I’m so grateful my boys are growing up with them as role models. Happy Father’s Day to all the dads in your life!
Kate and her husband have seven sons ages 14, 12, 10, 9, 7, 5, and 9 months. Follow her at www.facebook.com/kmtowne23, or email her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
