Happy Not-a-Dad Day

Happy Father’s Day to all you dads. I hope you enjoyed your day of being celebrated. You certainly deserve it. Fingers crossed you get a nice new golf club, or better yet, a Home Depot gift card. Gift cards never get it wrong. Am I right?

I’d also like to take this opportunity to wish all the non-dads out there a happy day too. You deserve to be celebrated as well, but Hallmark doesn’t make a card for us.

I think we get a bad rap. It feels like so many onlookers have their own theory of why. (Maybe because there are so many who feel the need to figure everybody else out.) But most of the time their theories are way off.

We’re not all self-centered douchebags who never got their shit together. We’re not all womanizing commitment-phobes. (At least not any more.) And we’re not all secretly gay trying to figure out who we are. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)

The truth is, a lot of us got to this place through choices, chance or circumstance. Some guys knew from the start that kids were never for them. For others, time went by, shit happened, relationships came and went, and we woke up one day to realize we never reproduced. 

The reasons are many, but they're our reasons.  

So, if you’re not a dad, no matter why, I’m here to say it’s ok. And you’re ok. This is who we are and where we ended up. Let’s celebrate our place in the world and be grateful for what, and who, we do have in our lives. Because none of it would be if it happened any other way. 

Back to that Hallmark thing. I do think they should consider a "Not-a-Dad" Day. Home Depot could go in on it too. Non-dads appreciate the practical power of a gift card just as much as the next guy. 

JS