(Women In Motion is entering its 30th year, thanks to loyal readers such as you—and thanks to the great indulgence of my family. As I once told my children, “No, not every page is filled out in your baby books. But if you want to know what you did as children, check out old issues of the Newberry Observer.” As Father’s Day approaches, I am reminded of those sweet days when the children were small. Henry was a terrific dad to the little ones, and he had good humor enough to enjoy the moments when “children will be children.” This column from June of 1981 is reprinted as a thank-you to all of you wonderful dads whose good humor has allowed you to enjoy those moments, too. Again, my thanks for our 30 years together! Love, Sue)

Blessed is the peacemaker father,

Who gives to each child a similar gift but in a different color.

Blessed is the father who keepeth his vocabulary clean

When he sits upon a Tonka dump truck in his favorite chair.

Blessed is the father who can be interrupted at work,

For he will be called upon to praise his tiniest tot

When she (finally) learns to “go potty.”

Blessed is the father who watches “Wonder Woman” with his children

And discusses only the character and plot.

(The parts he watcheth closely, he discusseth not.)

Blessed is the father who says “hello”—

And little else—to his daughter’s first date,

For she is frightened enough already.

Blessed are the fathers who are meek,

For they will not bore their friends with details of a kindergarten graduation.

Blessed are the fathers who know how to cook,

For their children will neither hunger nor thirst on Mother’s Night Out.

Blessed is the father who will mourn a lost doll,

And a lost cat, and a lost lightning bug, and a lost tooth, and a lost set of keys,

And a lost shoe, and a lost library book, and a lost ...

Blessed is the father who remembers his children’s ages,

Remembers all their names, and who’s going through which stages.

Blessed is the father who helps his wife carpool,

To music, to art, Little Leagues and swimming, to piano,

To playgroup, to dance, kindergarten and Bible School.

Blessed be the father who attends childbirth classes,

For he will rejoice at the hearing of the baby’s first cry.

Blessed is the father who can live in poverty,

For his children may need braces.

Blessed is the father who allows his children to shave with him,

For his children will surely have clean faces.

Blessed is the father whose kiss carries medicine for bumps and scrapes,

For a kiss is cheaper than even a band-aid (and more effective, too).

Blessed is the father who knows when and how to say “no,”

For pretty pink Easter chicks will into roosters grow.

Blessed is the father who can laugh at anything,

For elephant jokes never change.

Blessed is the father who tinkers,

For his children will learn that everybody makes mistakes.

Blessed is the father who tells his children that is he proud of them,

For they will surely make him so.

Blessed is the father who shows his son the love he feels,

For his son will return it twenty-fold.

Blessed is the family whose father is loving and kind and laughing,

Who is easily delighted and often playful,

Who is perfectly fair but only fairly perfect,

For such a man teaches his children that they need not be right all the time

To be loved all the time.

Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.

(Happy Father’s Day to all the Daddies in the ‘Berry!)