Father’s Day – Valerie's Voice

Father’s day has been bittersweet for me since I was a young adult. My father died from an aneurysm when I was twenty – he was way too young. I still miss him and I wish my husband and sons could have met him.

But when I had my own children, Father’s Day became a sweet celebration. It is special to celebrate my husband, who is a good, kind and loving father to our children.

Photo of our two sons when they were little boys.

And now, our two sons are fathers and we celebrate them!

Happy Father’s Day!

Sing praises to God and to his name!
Sing loud praises to him who rides the clouds.
His name is the Lord—
rejoice in his presence!

Father to the fatherless, defender of widows—
this is God, whose dwelling is holy. Psalm 68: 4-5

Father’s day…it’s a pleasure to celebrate my wonderful husband who is a great father to our two sons. But there is the sense of melancholy on father’s day when I remember my own father who died in 1974. I was twenty years old. My husband and two sons never met my dad and that makes me sad.

Herb & Ruby, circa 1940’s (my father and mother)

My dad was the son of a Norwegian immigrant, Torkel, who left Norway when he was 17 years old to find work in the USA. He and my grandmother had one daughter and three sons. Torkel was a carpenter by trade and taught my father the skills so then he became a carpenter too.

My father built this house in NE Minneapolis. We moved into it in 1953, when I was six months old. My mom sold it in 1982.

Mt dad was a kind man. He seemed to be well-liked. Favorite memories include family road-trip/camping vacations. We pulled a wooden “crank-up” camper that my dad built. The crank-up was wood, not canvas, and very heavy.

In background, the only picture I have of the crank-up wooden camper, built by Herb.

It would have been nice to get to know my dad in my adult years. I think my dad liked to have fun and had a sense of humor and a sense of adventure…I wonder if that is where I get mine?

“The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who trust him.” Psalm 103:13