Celebrating My Dad This Father’s Day.

I’m completely on board with celebrating the gift of a loving parent. However, I’m aware that this can be a difficult time for those who don’t have their father around, so if this is a trigger for you, please click off now and take care to be kind to yourself this weekend. I know how lucky I am to still have my father with me and this post is to honor him and share a little about our loving relationship.

My dad walked me down the isle in July. As a mature bride I was so fortunate that dad was able to take part in the celebration of my marriage to Sam. At eighty-seven he’s endured two hip replacements and a knee replacement. If he has to walk any distance, he uses the aid of crutches. He was determined to walk me down the isle.  I think, in some part, he still sees me as his little girl.

At the reception, he managed to dance a gentle waltz with me so I'd have a special father-daughter moment with him. After he was again seated at his table he said, “I didn’t think I’d be able to do it.” But he was smiling broadly. It makes me emotional to recall this because it shows how he’d pushed himself because he knew what it would mean to me. 

Looking handsome in the suit he got married in and indulging me by agreeing to wear a pink tie.

His whole life is centered around his family. His children are very important and he always admired mum for the wonderful job she did with looking after us all. But he was there, providing for his family and guiding his children with his wisdom.

As the baby of the family, I was indulged. I sat on his knee to watch TV until I grew too tall. He played ballet music on the stereo so I could dance to it.  When I’d tried to make myself stilts (they were all the rage with the kids at the time) with nailed together bits of wood, they kept falling apart so Dad made sturdy ones that were screwed together and braced. I had heaps of fun walking around on them.

Widowed two years ago, his focus is now on his two daughters. He alternates Sunday nights with me and my sister. We make a roast dinner and send him home with enough leftovers for two more meals for dinner during the week. We visit during the week and each night we take it in turns to call him and have a chat about our day. But he's very independent and still does his own supermarket shopping and brings homes treats for us to enjoy when we have lunch with him.

​I find at this time of life I’m also grateful for what I’m able to do for dad. Like my sister and brother in law, Sam and  I take dad on holiday with us. We enjoy going out for lunch and visiting attractions. Dad is  happy to do whatever Sam and I like and of course we're happy to take dad to see the things he would like too.​

Dad having lunch with Sam and I at a winery near Echuca.

In my romance writing dad inspires my heroes. They hear the call to action that fatherhood requires and are sensible of the responsibility that it carries. Angus, from 'The Scottish Billionaire's Secret Lover', is a father in waiting. He has the welfare of orphans at the center of all he does and is a father figure to a little boy in need of surgery to repair disfigurement. He thinks he needs an aristocratic, arranged marriage but subconsciously he really wants a wife who possesses a nurturing heart, with whom he can make the family he always wanted.

Alessandro, from 'The  Italian Billionaire's Secret Baby', was a boy when he lost his father in a racing car accident. Determined not to put a child of his through the same ordeal he refuses to have children while pursuing the same career but he discovers he has a toddler son. He immediately wants to step up and be a hands on father, but he has to understand what that really takes in order to win a place in his son's life and the heart of his estranged wife.  

Dad showed me what it is to be a father who takes that responsibility to heart. He loves his children and supports them to the best of his ability. This Father’s Day, it’s my pleasure to have dad for Sunday dinner. My sister and husband will join us and it looks like my kids will be coming too, as they usually do on Sundays to see their grandad. It will be a roast, probably lamb, which is an Australian staple, with apple sponge and ice-cream for dessert. Dad will be the guest of honor and I can’t express how lucky that makes me feel.

Dora Bramden writes heart-melting, passionate romance.