Happy Father's Day. You know who you are.
A little poem for you on Father's Day. It's also Juneteenth, and it's my eighteenth wedding anniversary. Did I write this for Tom? Yes and no. Tom is the dad I celebrate today since my own father is gone. Fathers teach you how to brown butter and make cookies. But I also wrote this for my friends who are fathers beyond the stereotypical understanding of the term: those who have not biologically created or adopted children, those who care for children as professionals, those who offer guidance or mentor young people, women and single mothers (or military spouses like me) who feel a distinct pressure to serve in ALL parental roles, people who are not limited by the mother/father binary, people whose relationship with fatherhood is complicated and seems like too much to say to well-wishers on a random Sunday. My five sisters and I were raised by a single mother. When I was little, my oldest sister, Amy, saved her babysitting money to buy my mom a wicker chair set for Father...
