Normally my greeting to you is from the fourth floor of the Capitol, but this week, it is from Crow Duck Lake in Manitoba, Canada. It’s appropriate for me to be here this week since Father’s Day is today.
As many of you know my dad was a Methodist minister for more than 40 years, and he was not only a fisher of men but was an avid fisherman all his life.
He made his first trip to Canada in 1965 and went almost every year with the last one being with my two brothers and me in 1989. That trip was to the northern territories, and we drove 28 hours straight through trading off drivers. But that’s a whole different story …
These trips are made up of a lot of fishing, great shore lunches and a lot of memory sharing. This trip was no different than all the rest. This year’s featured my brother Steve his son and my nephew, Jeff, and Jim O’Conner, Steve’s fishing partner for 40 years.
As we sat around the picnic table sharing precious memories of past trips and the various people who have made this trip with us, thoughts would trim to our dad and our late brother, Mark. Funny stories, some fish tales, but mixed in were some tears of not having them with us for this Father’s Day.
Our families are so important, taking time to share those moments in time and reflect on what they meant to us and will be cherished forever.
This Father’s Day, if your father is still with you, honor him on this day. If he’s not, take a few minutes or so to share some of your favorite times you had with him. Your whole family will be blessed.
My thoughts have also been with you as well with the tornado recovery and the flooding. I know many of you have had to change the way you get to work and any number of inconveniences we have to endure. But we indeed are JC Strong and get past this as we have in the past.
My very best to all you fathers out there, have a wonderful day!
State Rep. Dave Griffith, R-Jefferson City, represents the 60th District, and shares his perspective on statehouse issues twice a month.