52 Ancestors - #24 - Father's Day

Let me apologize in advance for the short post last week and what will undoubtedly be short posts for the next few weeks. Last week, my husband Scott and I spent a terrific week in Colorado celebrating grandbaby #3's 1st birthday. Oh - and we also enjoyed a doubleheader concert: Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan!! This week I am preparing for our upcoming trip. (Click here for info on that.) I hope to blog about the trip, but Internet access may be sketchy.

The prompt for this week's 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks is a pretty obvious one: Father's Day. I searched through my stash of photos, hoping to find a photo from each of Scott's Father's Days. Not as successful as I hoped to be, I realized that Father's Day is basically Mother's Day's "poor cousin."

One reason there is no photographic remembrance of Scott's first Father's Day may be that Caitlin was only 8 weeks old in June 1985. I had only recently stopped nursing her 24/7,  (seriously – I'm not exaggerating – it was dreadful) so I probably had no reserve energy to pick up a camera.

The next few Father's Days were indeed documented, but somehow Scott isn't in the pictures. In the early years, many of our Father's Day celebrations were combined with my stepdad's birthday. Alfie (Al Falcone) was born on June 7, so the combo holiday made a lot of sense. It was always a scene! After much deliberation regarding the location, each year our gang would meet at a local restaurant for Sunday Brunch. "Gang" isn't quite the right word. Maybe "mob" is more appropriate, as there were between 8–15  people or more at our gatherings.

Here are a few of the photos I found:

Alfie at LaLuna's in Branford - June 1987

PopPop (Alfie) and Caitlin at Top of the Park (Park Plaza Hotel) in New Haven - June 1988

Caitlin and Aunt Kathy - June 1989

Meghan and PopPop at Cousins Restaurant in Wallingford - June 1991

We haven't gone to many Sunday brunches since PopPop's passing in 2004, but when the "gang's all here," it's the first thing we want to do as a family.

I'm sure Scott would remember better than I, some of the gifts the kids have given him over the years. Considering his "uniform" consists of a T-shirt and jeans, the typical Father's Day gift of a tie was not an option. A favorite gift has been hanging over his dresser since 1999.

Father's Day Collage - created by Meghan 1999

Recently, Scott received something he has been wanting for years: a baseball signed by Yankee player, Bernie Williams. (Dean, you now are Scott's favorite person!) So, my Father's Day gift to him was a no-brainer!

Ready to showcase his treasure!

Happy Father's Day, Scott (aka Pops)! It's been fantastic watching you with our girls over the past 33 years and even more fun watching you with the grandkids!!

UPDATE: Immediately after publishing this post, I realized I never mentioned my dad, Alan Samuel. It was not a purposeful act – it's just that my father was not actively involved in my life for many years. Happily, he worked to rectify that before his passing in 2008. And that is a story for another day!