It’s Father’s Day, and I’ve taken a brief pause from my novel revision to reflect on fathers. Ironically, I’m working on a chapter in my book where my protagonist is hanging out with her dad. My book, on some level, deals with the father-daughter relationship since my protagonist, Rosa, only has one sibling–a sister named Frankie. The two are as close to their dad as any sons might be. They grew up fishing with their dad, they grew up shoveling snow with him and even played catch with him.
While this dad character I’ve created is not modeled after my own dad, the relationship certainly is. The closeness these girls feel for their father comes from the closeness I feel with my dad.
If my mother taught me the art of seeing, my father taught me the art of living. I’ve realized, as I’ve grown older, that my youth would not have been as rich were it not for my father’s insistence that we experience so much as a family and so much in general. He encouraged us to try all kinds of things and he worked hard to make it possible for us to do so.
Because of my dad, I’ve traveled all over Canada, hung out in the CN Tower in Toronto, watched the Carnaval festivities in Quebec, hung out in Montreal. I’ve traveled all over Europe and learned more about World War II history than I ever could have in a classroom. I learned to ice skate, I learned to ski, competitively, and skied mountains where world class skiers trained, and I learned to fly fish. I was able to learn to play the flute and achieve a level of competency that allowed me to attend Interlochen Arts Camp. There is likely not enough space in the blog-o-sphere to list everything he encouraged me to do and all that he gave me and my siblings. It’s been a rich life to be sure. Throughout my life, he’s been there to support me in so many ways, including being there during the two most important moments of my life–the birth of my son and the birth of my daughter.
We’ve had our share of challenges lately, but nothing can take any of that away.
Thanks Dad. Happy Father’s Day!
This photo of my dad was taken by my brother Paul Trapani, who is a professional photographer.
