Just because my Dad’s no longer with us doesn’t mean I can’t celebrate Father’s Day.
Like most of you, I’ve been bombarded with gift ideas for today. None of which my Dad would have wanted. While he was a very thoughtful and generous gift giver, he was a nightmare to buy for. Probably because if he needed or wanted something, he’d just go out and buy it! It used to drive me and my two sisters wild with frustration particularly when he’d show us things he’d bought just before his birthday, or Christmas.
After a while, I gave up buying him and my mother gifts for specific events and would just buy them things they liked, as and when I saw them. Gifts of hankerchiefs were always welcome. My Dad liked his to be made of Swiss lawn, hand rolled and in pale colours. I tended to buy these as small mementoes of my trips or holidays abroad.
You could buy Dad a tie, but only if he was there with you to choose it. The last tie I bought him was a blue and brown one from French brand Façonnable, from their shop in Aix-en-Provence, on my parents’ last trip together to visit us in October 2010.
His favourite present, particularly for Father’s Day, was a meal out with all the family. So, today, my beloved and I will be raising a glass to him – obviously one of his favourite wines – and I’ll be whipping up a Sunday luncheon fit for a king, in his memory. I know he’d approve.
