Leon Hale's Father's Day column
Leon Hale, the underestimated columnist for The Houston Chronicle, is not someone I read on a weekly, or three-times-a-week basis. What I do is check in every three or four weeks and read all of his columns at once. Today, I happened to check in and found this gem, a Father's Day column about his daddy. It starts with what I consider a great lede:
In my earliest times, I thought my father was the greatest man who ever lived.
I admired everything about him. What he did. What he said. The way he looked. How he moved.
If only all children had those feelings about their fathers. If only all fathers deserved it.
[houston chronicle/leon hale]
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2 comments:
Leon Hale is a great writer.
On Father's Day, I printed out Leon Hale's ironic and beautiful essay about his own father. I made the copy for a forty-five-year old man, my son, who remains a young boy in many ways because of the loss of his folk-singing dad who just had to pay me back by disappearing in far too many ways. I hope when the essay is read that my only child will find some comfort in it and perhaps some understanding that, even in loving homes such as Leon Hale's, there can be cause for longings that will never be fulfilled, and that we must hope that some of the grief one experiences is only part of our destiny. In Leon Hale's case, it would seem he was able to use his life's conflicts to discover understanding, compassion, and dedication to others.
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