I LIKE MIKE

I'm not sure when the focus of Father's Day shifted from my own father (although he is certainly not forgotten) to the father of my children. I would venture that the transition happened sometime around the fall of '99, when I realized that my sole proprietorship of parenting ended before it began with the birth of Madeline. Although I continue superficially to maintain the "fine, I'll do it myself" attitude and Mike plays along with good humor, we both know that among my myriad inadequacies, midnight diaper changings, repetitious disciplining and anything involving the blood of my offspring are not my forte. Being fatherless, his standard of fatherhood drew from the best he saw in fathers around him, and he improved even on that. Lucky, lucky Maddy, Nick and Dylan.