Happy Fathers Day To Us Fathers

First I was born - a boy, a son that opened his mother's womb, of the #TribeOfFirstBorns

Then I became a Teen - #TeenBoy, #Adolescent  with all the questions and roaring hormones, feeling like I own the world, thinking that my Father was of the Old School and I the wonder kid

Then I became a Young Adult -#YoungAdult, no longer a teenager and not fully a man (lol) with many unanswered questions, still grappling with roaring hormones, seeking meaning, loving adventures and scary things, going where I was asked not to go

Then I became a Mid-Adult - #YoungMan, searching out a career path, reaching out of my enclave

Then I became an Adult - #FullBloodiedAdult, training and looking towards utopia

Then I had a career and became 1st Degree Bachelor - I thought it won't be long

But the search took longer than I thought and while still searching I became a 2nd Degree Bachelor

And when I thought I had found her, God interevened and said it was not her and that left me still hanging in the space between marriageable bachelor and married man which made me get into the stage of 3rd Degree Bachelor

And then just like a meteor, God sent her to me, the woman to complete me and fill the rib that was taken out of my side and hurray I became a Married Man and left the Club of Chronic Bachelors for good

Before I could say Jack Robinson, a junior me came and made me a Father

What I learnt from my Father, I am also passing onto my Son - of belief in oneself, of hard work, of sincerity of purpose, of honesty, of integrity, of not appropriating what does not belong to him, of being the best he can be where ever he finds himself.

Fatherhood is an experience which is better tasted than described.

If you are a Father, join me as we celebrate Fathers Sunday today

And if you are yet to be a Father, make haste and join the Club, time waits for no one

Happy Celebration to all Fathers

May your lights never dim

Dr. Jerry - the First Oguzie: JP

Father and of the #TribeOfFirstBorns

Happy Fathers' Day

Father's Day is a celebration honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society.

Many countries celebrate it on the third Sunday of June, though it is also celebrated widely on other days by many other countries.

Father's Day was inaugurated in the early 20th century to complement Mother's Day in celebrating fathers and male parenting.

After Anna Jarvis' successful promotion of Mother's Day in Grafton, West Virginia, the first observance of a "Father's Day" was held on July 5, 1908, in Fairmont, West Virginia, in the Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church South, now known as Central United Methodist Church.

Grace Golden Clayton was mourning the loss of her father when, on December 1907, the Monongah Mining Disaster in nearby Monongah killed 361 men, 250 of them fathers, leaving around a thousand fatherless children. Clayton suggested her pastor Robert Thomas Webb to honor all those fathers.

Clayton's event did not have repercussions outside of Fairmont for several reasons, among them: the city was overwhelmed by other events, the celebration was never promoted outside of the town itself and no proclamation was made in the city council.

Also two events overshadowed this event: the celebration of Independence Day July 4, 1908, with 12,000 attendants and several shows including a hot air balloon event, which took over the headlines in the following days, and the death of a 16-year-old girl on July 4.

The local church and council were overwhelmed and they did not even think of promoting the event, and it was not celebrated again for many years. The original sermon was not reproduced in press and it was lost.

Finally, Clayton was a quiet person, who never promoted the event or even talked to other persons about it.

In 1910, a Father's Day celebration was held in Spokane, Washington, at the YMCA by Sonora Smart Dodd, who was born inArkansas.

Its first celebration was in the Spokane YMCA on June 19, 1910.

Her father, the civil war veteran William Jackson Smart, was a single parent who raised his six children there.

After hearing a sermon about Jarvis' Mother's Day in 1909 at Central Methodist Episcopal Church, she told her pastor that fathers should have a similar holiday honoring them.

Although she initially suggested June 5, her father's birthday, the pastors did not have enough time to prepare their sermons, and the celebration was deferred to the third Sunday of June.

Several local clergymen accepted the idea, and on June 19, 1910, the first Father's Day, "sermons honoring fathers were presented throughout the city."

However, in the 1920s, Dodd stopped promoting the celebration because she was studying in the Art Institute of Chicago, and it faded into relative obscurity, even in Spokane.

In the 1930s, Dodd returned to Spokane and started promoting the celebration again, raising awareness at a national level.

She had the help of those trade groups that would benefit most from the holiday, for example the manufacturers of ties, tobacco pipes, and any traditional present to fathers.

By 1938 she had the help of the Father's Day Council, founded by the New York Associated Men's Wear Retailers to consolidate and systematize the commercial promotion.

Americans resisted the holiday for its first few decades, viewing it as nothing more than an attempt by merchants to replicate the commercial success of Mother's Day, and newspapers frequently featured cynical and sarcastic attacks and jokes.

However, said merchants remained resilient and even incorporated these attacks into their advertisements.

By the mid-1980s, the Father's Council wrote that "(...) [Father's Day] has become a Second Christmas for all the men's gift-oriented industries."

A bill to accord national recognition of the holiday was introduced in Congress in 1913.

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson went to Spokane to speak in a Father's Day celebration and wanted to make it official, but Congress resisted, fearing that it would become commercialized.

US President Calvin Coolidge recommended in 1924 that the day be observed by the nation, but stopped short of issuing a national proclamation.

Two earlier attempts to formally recognize the holiday had been defeated by Congress.

In 1957, Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith wrote a proposal accusing Congress of ignoring fathers for 40 years while honoring mothers, thus "[singling] out just one of our two parents".

In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers, designating the third Sunday in June as Father's Day.

Six years later, the day was made a permanent national holiday when President Richard Nixon signed it into law in 1972.

Today, Fathers' Day celebration has received an international status practiced in many Countries of the World

Source:     Wikipedia

Happy Fathers' Day

It's the International Day for Men popularly called Fathers' Day

I got this message from my son and I want to share it with all Fathers out there as we celebrate

"Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a Dad, and

that's why I call you Dad, because you are so special to me.

You taught me the game and you taught me how to play it right.

Having you as a Father has been, without a doubt, my greatest source of achievement, pride and inspiration.

From your shining example of fatherhood I have learnt about unconditional love, the importance of giving back has been reinforced in me and I have been taught to be a better person

I want to congratulate all the men out there who are working diligently to be good fathers whether they are stepfathers, or biological fathers or just spiritual fathers

I am far away home but the emotional feelings are there, it took hours to contemplate and write this mail but I just have to let you know that you are special to my heart

Happy fathers' day Daddy"

I love you Daddy

You are my Hero

I love you Daddy, oh Daddy

You are my Superstar

And you're always on my mind

I love you Daddy

My Daddy, my Daddy

You are my Hero

My Hero, my Hero

I love you Daddy, oh Daddy

You are my Number One

And you're always on my mind

HAPPY FATHERS DAY

Fathers: Career Highlights Won't Be On Your Tombstone

By Dave Kerpen

Last Sunday morning, at 8:25 AM, I stood at Gate B5 in Memphis, Tennessee, tears streaming down my face as I watched my flight home to New York take off. 

I had been delayed by weather on a connecting flight from Nashville, and had arrived to the gate just two minutes after the doors had closed. 

So I watched the plane leave, standing there, knowing that I would be re-routed through Atlanta now and instead of getting home before noon, I wouldn't be home until 5PM. I would miss the entire weekend with my family, and I was devastated.

I had begrudgingly accepted a business trip to Nashville even though it was a Wednesday through a Saturday because it was an excellent opportunity with an important business partner. 

And although weekends were typically sacred with my family, I had decided to sacrifice Daddy-daughter Saturday morning dance class this time, knowing I'd be home Sunday morning.

But when I missed that flight, I missed camp orientation, and had lost the entire weekend with my kids. I fell apart emotionally. I felt so disappointed in myself. I felt so out of control. I felt like I had made a really bad decision to not be home for a weekend. I felt like the worst dad in the world.

During the next seven hours of travel, I had a lot of time to think and reflect upon my priorities. 

I thought about my incredible day with the late, great Senator Frank Lautenberg, who taught me that my greatest legacy would be my children. 

I thought about the famous quote from John Crudele: "How do children spell LOVE? T-I-M-E." 

I thought about my priorities.

It's easy to get caught up in our hectic careers. 

It's easy for men and women to become "busy" trying to advance up the ladder at work or build a successful company.

It's easy to check your email, take that meeting or call, or attend that networking event the boss invited you too. 

It's all too easy to skip the family dinner in the name of helping to put dinner on the table.

Somehow, it's more difficult at times to say "no" to our client or boss than it is to say "no" to our children. 

But as Senator Lautenberg taught me, your career highlights won't be on your tombstone. Your kids' names will be.

You'll never regret time with your kids. You'll never say on your deathbed, "I wish I had worked more." 

I have a lot of career goals and dreams.

I want to build meaningful companies that change the world. 

I want to one day run for public office. 

I want to teach, to speak, to invest and to inspire. 

But I'm not willing to sacrifice weekends with my kids.

That's my choice, and of course it's your choice to pursue your career and your goals and dreams as vigorously as you'd like. 

But my hope, as we celebrate Father's Day in the US, is that you'll find it a little bit easier to say no to that next weekend conference, evening networking event, or breakfast meeting. 

My hope is that you'll find it easier to say yes to the kids. 

Just think about that eventual deathbed or tombstone, and how you'll feel one day looking back.

By the way, while I was devastated to miss the whole weekend with the kids, 

I'm proud to report that I canceled three evening work activities this week, to spend those evenings with my daughters. 

The week culminated in an excellent game of RISK, pictured above. 

And the only world I needed to take over was two little girls' world.

Happy Father's Day, and enjoy that time with your children!

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Now it's your turn. How do you balance your career with your family? How do you determine what to say "Yes" to and what to say "No" to at work? What kind of father (or mother) do you want to be remembered as? Please let me know your thoughts in the Comments section below. And please do share this post with the fathers (and mothers) in YOUR network