Pa-pa's One-of-a-Kind Father's Day Card

Call me a disgruntled Father's Day card shopper.  A previous blog-poem (plog?) expresses my frustration at not being able to find an appropriate card this year for Great-Grandpa Ted.  Yesterday's effort to locate one for Pa-pa turned out fruitless as well.  The typical card, it seemed, depicted a fishing pole, said, "Happy Father's Day," and tried to get to me for at least $2.99. 

In Great-Grandpa's case, I baked him an angelfood cake and called it good.  It was what he asked for, and my only concern is that it seemed so inadequate for such an important person on such an important day.  In Pa-pa's case, however, I simply decided to write my own "card."  Now, Sooby, Pooh, and Bootsie can always look back and see what Googie wrote to their Pa-pa on Father's Day 2011, when they were ages three (almost four), two, and eight months.

        Father's Day Card

The cards were expensive and trite
and none of them had just the right
message: generic words penned
by people I don't know
for people they don't know.

So this Father's Day I write my own:
I hope your day is special like you,
another one we are blessed with
in this life we chance to share;
and I am glad you've been there

with your always-ready smile,
the laughs hiding just behind your eyes,
the strong shoulders, the enormous heart
that the kids and I have come to count on
to sustain and love us through it all.