by Tenebris

Created on: June 15, 2008   Last Updated: June 17, 2008

Thy fifty yet doth double five-and-twenty,
And thou art twice her love.
- King Lear II:iv

It is scarcely a new concern. Certainly the assumption that love ought to be measurable by a price tag has been around as long as Shakespeare.

To turn on the television as Father's Day draws near, one might well start to think that appreciation and respect and gratitude might as well not exist unless they can be translated into something you can buy. Stores are brimming with all manner of helpful suggestions as to what would be the perfect gift, from ties to barbeques - and if the gift turns out to be not quite perfect, no problem, simple enough to return it for cash-on-the-card. In fact, the cash card has eliminated even the step of having to guess personal preferences, without actually resorting to the crassness of an outright cash gift.

And then the cash card has been spent and another special day has come and gone, with nothing to show for it but a new thing or two which will soon be replaced with other new things; and so another opportunity has been lost.

This Father's Day, try something a little different.

We, all of us, are given only so many mornings, afternoons, days we can choose to embrace or to let slip through our fingers. Just maybe, while we still can, we might choose to spend a few more of them with a person who is dear to us. Yet in this go-go-go world, there is one thing that is more precious even than the gift of our personal time - and that is the gift of our genuine interest.

Take the time to discover your father's joys, passions, the spark in his soul. Learn about what he always wanted to do and never had time and then make the time and do it, together. If he enjoys camping or fishing or golfing or travelling, take the weekend off to spend with him. If he enjoys silence, let it fill both your souls. If he enjoys talking, listen, and discover a new part of who he is. If he wishes desperately to know a little more of your life, of where you have taken his advice and guidance and what you have built with it, tell him.

Whether working together over an old car or pouring over a painstakingly pieced together geneology or hot-air ballooning or picking out and setting up the perfect hammock or even just sharing a six-pack of beer on the back porch:

Bring your INTEREST.

Open your HEART.

Take the TIME to listen, or do, or even just to be together.

Give the gift of yourself, and together you will have built memories that will last a lifetime.

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