A Day for Fathers, and the Rest of the Family As Well
June 9, 2008
Did you know...One in five adults took a trip to attend a family reunion in the last year.
For more than half a century now, my husband's extended family has celebrated Father's Day. Thirty or forty people show up in someone's backyard for a cookout, a ballgame, and lots of catching up.
Father's Day has some obvious benefits: the weather is good, and nobody has any commitments. It's not like Mother's Day, which comes with more sentiment and higher expectations. Fathers Day – both the holiday and the event – are loose and unassuming.
Like many gatherings of this type, this one probably started because it was easy. And it's remained that way -- just pot luck and pick up games. Still, anything that has gone on for this long assumes added significance. Grandfathers remember the Father's Day gatherings of their childhoods. Relatives who feel out of touch have been known to fly across the country for an overdone hamburger and a chance to sit around in the sun or the shade.
It doesn't take much – a couple of people to stand by the grill, a lot of paper plates, a couple of balls. And family.
Mealtimes Matter Video
from Miriam Weinstein
About Miriam
Miriam Weinstein is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. As a journalist, she has won several awards from the New England Press Association. Her work has appeared in Boston Magazine, the Boston Globe magazine, Hope, and ParentSource. A former staff member for North Shore Weeklies and freelancer for Essex County Newspapers, she writes restaurant reviews and food columns as well as features on a wide variety of subjects. She lives in Gloucester, Massachusetts, with her husband and has two grown children.
The Surprising Power of Family Meals
In her book, The Surprising Power of Family Meals, Miriam Weinstein shows how this basic human institution helps nourish and strengthen our families today. You can buy this book from our friends at Smucker's® Online Store.
