Cheerios - A Fathers Day Memory

One of my favorite memories of my Dad is when we had breakfast together early in the morning before my Mom and little brother woke up.

As I climbed up to the counter and found my spot on the bar stool next to his, he would set me up with a place setting which included a bowl, napkin, spoon, and a glass of milk.

It was always (and still is) a simple bowl of Cheerios. Just the plain old fashion, yellow box kind.

To make it special, my Dad would carefully slice half of a banana for my bowl, and the other half for his.

Then there was the sugar. We are talking about the early 70's folks, before it was "bad" to give your kids sugar. There was probably a little more sugar in my bowl then there should have been, but I lived.

The best part of this morning ritual was that it was MY time with my Dad. Not a man of many words, I can't recall any profound conversations, but we talked about stuff going on in the world and in our lives.

And after our breakfast we went our separate ways and on with our days. I went to school or climbed trees or whatever I was into at the time, and he went to work to build a house or something.

We lost my Dad 15 years ago to heart disease, and not a day goes by without missing him. So, all I have are these special memories, of simple times and simple pleasures, but these memories still warm my heart and make me smile.

My brother and his wife are having their first child in a couple of weeks. I have a feeling that a couple of years from now, he and his son will be sitting at the counter eating their Cheerios and starting their day together.....

Happy Fathers Day!