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Photo by Dan Chapman ©2001
Stanyan Entertainment Group
A Thought for Today
All of us are searching for the father of
us all.
Dear
Rod, Like you I never knew who my father was and I was wondering if you
would reprint the Flight Plan you wrote in 1998 for Father's Day? Thanks,
Timothy Eimen
Fathers Day
"My real father was a flying
ace. He was a colonel and after shooting down several dozen enemy planes
was shot down himself. Of course, they sent us his medals".
That piece of fiction was the
first big lie I remember telling about my father. Because he was
intangible, and I knew little or nothing about him, I felt the need to
invent a past for him to justify my own importance. Addicted to movies -
we used to see one nearly every night at the WPA camp - I secretly
imagined my father as Tarzan, Clark Gable, or a Paul Bunyan-like character
out of the North Woods.
- from "Finding My Father",
1976. First published in Flight Plan 6/21/98
Finding My
Father
I was born a bastard.
What a connotation that word has - unwanted, unintended, and in a time
when Planned Parenthood is all the rage, even unnecessary. But I have
never looked in the mirror and thought of myself as a mistake nor have I,
for a long time now, felt less of a human being because of my origin.
Whatever my identity problems were, my mother was always able to solve
them just by being there. She was a friend when I needed one, the truest
council I ever had, a woman who would do I anything to ensure I was
brought up in the best way she knew and never wanted for anything -
especially love.
-from the British edition of
"Finding My Father", 1977
To those of you who know your
fathers, be good to them and whatever your differences may be, remember,
they are older and no doubt wiser. And if you feel they're strict -
perhaps they're trying to save you from the mistakes they made while
growing, or they want to be sure you reach the potential they know you
have. If you don't know your father, he's missing, deceased, deserted you
and your mother or remains anonymous for whatever reason. . . . today is
the day of all days to blow whatever you can or cannot afford on the best
possible Fathers Day gift for your mom.
Tomorrow on Monday Morning Feedback, more reaction to “To One Absent” and
the new Sentimental Saturday feature. Sleep warm.
- RM 6/18/99 with new
material, 2001
 Two new
appearance dates just announced! Booking for "An Evening with
Rod McKuen" at the Riverton Rendezvous is open! Click below for
more details:
Concert & Appearance Details
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