For many years in this column, I’ve been blessed with the opportunity, and have taken advantage of it many times, to speak of my family and express my pride, joy, and love for them, and my appreciation having them in my life.

Many people have come up to me, asking about Sally, many of those who’ve never even met her, but feel they know her very well. Some, before I began doing this column, never even knew I had three children, but whenever some people see me, they refer to them by name and ask how they’re doing.

A number of times, in this arena, I’ve included in my May narratives, how I’m quadrupled with awe and amazement at what wonderful mothers are Sally, Chasy, Chrissy, and now Erica. How they hold things together as well as they do, is a credit to their unbelievable resourcefulness, instinct, and their love and devotion for, and to, everyone before themselves.

As I pondered what I wanted to say for Father’s Day this year, it occurred to me that I haven’t told my son, Jon, how proud I am of the husband he is to his wife, Erica, and the father he is to their daughters, Gianna and Olivia.

We don’t get to see all of them nearly as often as we’d like, but we take advantage of the avenues available to see them grow interact, and grow up, through the marvels of technology, which miraculously, I have somewhat learned to use. We Zoom, we video chat, I just learned how to Google Meet, though I have not reached complete mastery levels in any of those communication availabilities, but we are able to talk to them and watch how they play, listen to them sing, tell us things about their activities, and see what they’ve learned from Erica and Jon as far as manners, sharing, and emphasizing colors, shapes, numbers, letters, and amazingly, the correct names of dinosaurs, how many sides are in various polygons, etc. Didn’t mention that Gianna will be four next week and Olivia is two and a half.

Again, through social media, specifically Facebook, we are able to see the Saturday and Sunday activities Jon and Erica plan for the four of them to do, many of those combining fun and education. When we do get to visit, we get to participate in those activities with them, and love being a part of all that they do.

Some of those activities include, visits to petting zoos, animal farms, pumpkin farms, a place called The Art Factory, they visit children’s museums, and go to Erica’s parents’ complex to swim in the summer, a long weekend in Hershey, PA with Nana and Nanu (’22), and they spend a lot of time in their own complex’s splash pad and playground area.

It is obvious they have the development of their children at the top of their list, and its success is evident in the things that the kids have learned, their pride in being able to tell others about it, and in the smiles and laughter that emanate from them as they are doing it.

I am so proud of how Jon is so loving with the girls. Erica has captured some amazing moments in pictures of Jon, with both girls flanking him hand in hand, while moving on to the next activity. At the same time, I am equally as proud of how he teaches them to share, or if one has a toy the other wants, how to trade with each other. I love the way he asks Gianna to show Olivia how something is done or how something works, and constantly says please and thank you to both of them, instilling good manners and follow through with consequences for actions if they are necessary.

Being my own greatest critic, I sometimes wonder where Jon got the skills to be the father he is to his girls. There are times when his beliefs in something are expressed with a lot of emotion, which I know he got from his old man, but I often think all my kids got cheated in the patience, temperament, and the how to react departments. Fortunately, it appears they all developed some excellent parenting skills, in spite of their dad.

So, as Father’s Day comes tomorrow, it’s time for me to tell you, Jon, how proud I am of you as a father, and all the other things you’ve accomplished in your life, so far. Continue, as I know you will, following the words of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, and “Teach your children well.” Remember, the time you and Erica invest in them, will pay off a million fold through them, and their children, who will pay it back another million more after that.

Happy Father’s Day in Heaven, to my Pop, Joe X., my Father-in-law, Earl, all the fathers and dads, and to my best buddy, my son. Happy Father’s Day, Jon! Keep up the great work!