343. Fathers Day, 2008

The first reading this morning, taken from the Eighteenth Chapter of Genesis for this Fifth Sunday After Pentecost, is the familiar story of the Lord and his angels making a visit upon Abraham and Sarah and granting to them a newborn son, this when they were both approaching 100 years of age. In the story Sarah laughs to herself, saying something to the effect, "oh yeah, now that I am old, you bring me some pleasure" when the angel says he will return when her son is born and the angel sort of makes fun of her for doing so, which frightened her. But, the Lord made good on his word and Isaac was born to the two old timers. It is rather unusual for the Lectionary's readings to coincide with secular holidays such as Father's Day, but today's did just that with a story on the beginning of a fatherhood, one which for Abraham lives on to this time. Abraham was said to have been 100 when Isaac was born.

My dad, Gene Noble, was 20 when I was born in September, 1960. He and my mother had been married by a Justice-Of-The-Peace on the day after Christmas in 1959, so they made the nine-month period by hours, not weeks. He is now 68 and, while today he seemed to be in pretty good health, that is the exception of late and not the rule. And while he didn't raise me and our personal paths and beliefs are divided by great valleys as opposed to small ravines, our geographic division is, in these days, measured in blocks. I live in the 500 block of South Campbell. He lives a few doors west of the 200 block of North Campbell. Seven blocks and a generation of attitude are easy stumbling blocks to overcome.

Today for Father's Day, I went to his house where he was having a cookout, one of his passions. He had bratwursts and garlic hot dogs, Ale-8-Ones (my favorite), and ice cream. My oldest niece, who will be twenty-one later this week was there, as was my mother who has been my father's ex-wife since 1964, and now serves as a caregiver and best friend. My brother called in an appearance, as he was home celebrating his own Father's Day with his three youngest children. As an aside, my brother has a new young girlfriend, the approximate age of my oldest niece (as best she and I can tell), who will likely provide him with yet more offspring if his past is any indication. As God promised Abraham he would be a father of nations, Kevin's procreative activities at least promises that he might be the father of his own precinct. But, I digress.

Dad is worried he is getting old. This is another one of his passions. He has been passionately worrying about getting old since he was about 49, the year he had his first heart attack. And, to be sure, there have been times I thought he was old enough and ill enough that his birthdays, Christmasses, and Fathers Days might be numbered. He has a number of health problems which hold him back more than they should. I hope his good health picture today continues on for a while. He is too young to stop complaining.

Happy Father's Day.