Here's hoping all you dads had a wonderful Father's Day yesterday. My first fatherly duty was at 6:00 a.m. when I transported our two oldest sons to the high school. No, there was nothing going on...I just felt like taking them to school like any good papa. Actually, they were there to connect with other talented talkers on their way to the National Forensics League tournament in Wichita. The night before, we had one of my wife's amazing Newlywed Loafs. It is a thin layer of chocolate cake wrapped around vanilla ice cream and topped with chocolate icing. Looks a little like a Hostess Ho-Ho on steroids. I'm not sure why it's called a Newlywed Loaf. Maybe it is supposed to represent the coming together of different strengths...ice cream and cake... to make something even better. Whatever the reason, it is good stuff. I opened a few gifts on Saturday evening, including a jigsaw puzzle from our youngest boy, a card from our oldest and a promise that he was planning on picking up something extra special for me in Wichita, from the middle son.

After the big boys were on the road, the rest of us went to church. The pastor, Dave Whetter, told a great Father's Day story. When Pastor Whetter turned 16, he had a serious talk with his dad about driving the family car. His dad said Dave could drive if he did three things: get his grades up, read The Bible, and get a haircut. Well, the report card came and Dave's grades were up. He had been reading The Bible, well, uh, religiously. He approached his father with this information and mentioned "You know, Dad, I noticed that in The Bible, all those people like Samson, Moses, the disciples...even Jesus...they all have long hair so I thought I would skip that third request about getting a haircut." Dave's father replied with a smile "Dave, you're right about all those men having long hair and, if you want to do the same, fine. You know, another thing all those men did was walk everywhere they wanted to go."

Later in the day, our daughter gave me a cool t-shirt from K-State celebrating their terrific volleyball program. She had been there for several days last week...adding considerably to my gray hair quotient. She also wrote a wonderful poem which she placed over a cool computer-enhanced photograph of the two of us walking hand-in-hand. I really appreciated the fact that she was able to make my thickening middle look thinner and my thinning top look thicker.

Now, my wife, Jessica, is an E-Bay master which means I always end up with some pretty neat stuff like, this time around, a couple of tapes of those Dean Martin roasts. One featuring Frank Sinatra and the other with Johnny Carson. It takes me back to my youth! That is an increasingly long trip. Used to make it with just a bottle of water and a Hershey Bar. Now, I require a sack lunch. It won't be long and I'll need a picnic basket full of goodies to go back that far. Anyway, those will be fun to watch. Also, she found me a brief case. I know, you're thinking what does he need a briefcase for? To carry the cold fronts around in? To have a file of alibis available? To hold the records of missed forecasts? Well, ever since I was a little boy and would wander around our neighborhood with my red, cardboard suit case, pretending to be an insurance salesman, I've thought a real grown-up carries a brief case. I'm not telling you what's in it. Suffice to say, I will never run out of Ritz crackers, Cheese Whiz and Oreos. The brief case I had been using was really Jessica's anyway. She'd gotten it when she graduated from college and I stole it. Now, that I have a new one, I did return it...piece by piece.

A recent news story had me thinking of something my own father used to tell me. You have probably heard that news item about a woman in Des Moines who is in prison for stealing toilet paper. Her name is Suzanne Butts. Butts and toilet paper. Too good for TV to ignore. However, the story reminded me of a couple my dad insisted he used to know named Butz. First names: Rosey and Harry. That can't be true but it always makes me crack a smile. So to speak.