Dear Readers,
Father’s Day is Sunday, June 21, 2009 and I wanted to wish my husband, Frank, and all the fathers to please have a happy day.
Both my husband and I belong to a group that is growing rapidly among our age group. It is called "Parent(s) without Parent(s)".
So I want to know who do we trust with the responsibility of filling the void. I guess there is nothing that fills the void of the person who birthed you. Their absence is like the discovery that there indeed is an echo in a place that you thought you would not find one.
The grief and the surprise no matter how long your parent has been sick, is still overwhelming. Not much changes if you have not had a great relationship with your father, in death it is somehow different. The anger is replaced with different levels of sorrow and you grieve.
I am a wife and mother before everything else. My 12th wedding anniversary is approaching on June 28 and I remember my father walking me down the aisle.
I have a picture hanging in the wall of my office to remind me to take care of myself. (See Page 1) .
My father lost both of his legs to diabetes. On this Father’s Day, men should be encouraged go to the doctor. Do not wait until you are feeling ill or in pain. Make your appointment today. I love my husband and want to make sure that he is around for a long time.
While campaigning for City Council, I notice there is a need for people to open the dialogue for more conversation about taking care of yourself.
At a recent meeting, two women told me the reason that they are disabled was because they worked themselves into the ground taking care of everyone else and did not take care of themselves. One was in a neck brace and the other has renal failure, which occurs when the kidneys fail to function adequately.
I and my family still greive my father’s death but continue to use it help other people.
Even though my husband’s father died recently too. I always ask people how they are doing. This Father’s Day make a year long pledge to ask your fathers, brothers, boyfriends, grandfathers, nephews and sons how they are doing.
There is nothing like the feeling of discovering “The Echo”.
Sincerely,
Rina Risper
Log on to www.tncp.net , sign up on my Facebook page “Rina Risper for City Council” or check out
www.electrinarisper.com.
