Father's Day 2026

This is what I like about photographs.
They're proof that once, even if just for a heartbeat, everything was perfect.
Jodi Picoult

by Skip Cohen

It's Father's Day, and when you're estranged from your kids and your own father has passed away, you'd think it would be a tough day. Thanks to photographs and terrific memories, it's going to be a great day. That quote from author Jodi Picoult couldn't be more appropriate.

Father's Day originated in the US after Sonora Smart Dodd, the daughter of a Civil War veteran, wanted to pay an ode to fathers around the world. It is believed that she took inspiration from Anna Jarvis, the founder of Mother's Day...She is said to have had the idea in 1909 while listening to a sermon on Mother's Day, which was emerging as a holiday. Google Search

The fun of this morning is telling stories about my Pop. When I was a kid, in the wintertime, he was the one dad who would tie a rope to the car's bumper and let us hook up our sleds as he pulled us around the neighborhood. Today, he'd be in jail for child endangerment, but life was different back then. He was the pop who drove us around on July 4th, tossing cherry bombs out the window under bridges, alleys, and the arcade in the shopping center just to see how loud we could make them.

He was also that dad who, when something hit him as truly funny, he'd laugh until he cried. From the Three Stooges to watching Bobo Brazil and the Gallagher Brothers on Saturday wrestling, there was no better buddy to hang out with.

But most important of all, he was my best buddy. He was my best man at my first marriage, and he was the only person in my family to support me when Sheila and I married in 2010. I remember thanking him for keeping an open heart through my divorce and later my relationship with Sheila. His answer? "When you love somebody, an open heart is your only choice."

And that was my Dad. While I miss him all the time, it's those photographs and videos we've got that keep his memory alive. So often, I'll say to Sheila, "I wish Dad could see this," and her answer is always the same: "He does!"

When I was twelve, and somebody asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always answered, "A Dad!" Nothing changes the fun of looking back on those days or watching your kids grow up. And while we can never stop time or turn back the clock, we can learn to better appreciate every minute of the day.

So to all you dads out there, Happy Father's Day! Don't compromise on making new memories and capture them with more than just neurochromes*. Nothing beats looking at old photographs and the memories they bring back.

Wishing everybody a terrific Sunday, and time to savor your family, friends, and those special moments that make life so worth living and remembering!  Make it a day to remember. Go for those eleven-second therapeutic hugs with the people you love the most, and pat yourself on the back for being a Dad.

Happy Father's Day!

*Neurochromes," if you've missed my reference in past posts, are those image you capture with your mind, when you don't have a camera in your hands!