Become a Member
Family & Education

I’ll be missing Dad this Sunday

Sarah Ebner's beloved father died in October- so Father's Day with her children will be bittersweet

June 17, 2021 14:02
Sarah
3 min read

It’s Father’s Day on Sunday and, for the first time I can remember, I won’t be buying a card or seeing my dad. A lot has changed in the world since last Father’s Day, but the most seismic event for me took place last October. That was when my wonderful dad, Henry, died.

It’s all the more complex because, of course, my children will mark Father’s Day with their dad (my husband). It’s a day we can’t ignore and I’m expecting an odd combination of celebration and mourning.

I had never previously thought of how hard it must have been for Henry when Father’s Day came around. Perhaps that’s due to my own selfishness, or perhaps it’s one of those things you never consider until your circumstances change. His own father, Berthold (for whom I named my son, Robert), died just a few weeks after my older brother was born, and it must have been very painful to see the Ebner children grow up without their grandfather.

I was always something of a daddy’s girl and saw my father as a true role model. He was an honourable man who was full of integrity, but always had a twinkle in his expressive brown eyes. I probably couldn’t grasp all of that when I was a child, but I was aware that he was the kind of man who absolutely knew right from wrong, had a brilliant sense of humour (including an infectious laugh) and a temper which could blow up and quickly dissipate (something I definitely inherited). I also thought (correctly, of course) he was the most handsome father of all.