Father’s Day is coming up and like other family-centric holidays, they have a happy side and a sad side.

If your loved one is no longer here, it’s always a tough day.

If our relationships with family members are challenged, dysfunctional or non-existent, it can be a painful time.

Only if life blessed you with the ideal person you want to remember can this day realize its full potential.

Or is it?

Here’s how I try to remember those who matter to me that are no longer on this earth:

• By actually doing something they did – cook a favorite recipe, go to a favorite place of theirs and give gratitude for having had such a person in your life.

• By adopting the quality you loved about them the most.  My father was a straight shooter, as honest a man as I ever met – there’s lots to put into action there if I want to keep his spirit alive in me.

• Make those we’ve lost as authentic as they really were – no reason to hold them up to a standard that is unrealistic when just plain real is more than good enough.  For example, my dad when he knew he was going to die had an odd response when I asked him where all is wine was?  He was an old Italian man with a wine cellar.  His response: ”I want to drink all my wine and not leave it here”.  I laugh hilariously now when I think of that.

We don’t have to be perfect.

We don’t have to make others perfect.

Real is good enough and we have a chance to do that on Sunday June 19^th.

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