Dear Dad,

I guess you know it’s Father’s Day, so I’m back for our annual excursion into paternal reminiscences. I know I should be getting tired of these by now (this is the sixth in the series), but surprisingly I still look forward to them. They’re easy to write and leave me with a sense of catharsis when I finish. Thank you for indulging me, not that you have a choice in the matter.

This year, I’m going to break tradition because I have some news. Every year, I’ve put an Ian and Deborah update at the end of these letters, just because I’m sure you’d want to know. Well, this time I’m going to lead with them. Last month Ian finally got his PhD! It was as wonderful and heartwarming as you could imagine and it definitely falls into that category of events known as “wishing you were here.” He worked hard for this and the two of them had to make tremendous sacrifices to achieve it.

The news after the graduation was equally exciting. The job market for college history professors isn’t great at the moment, as history programs across the country are being slashed or eliminated entirely. Over the years, college programs have evolved into something more about politics and propaganda than about real history and it turns out that students aren’t buying what the colleges are selling. We despaired that the two of them might have to take up the hobo life because he wouldn’t be able to follow his dream of becoming a college professor. As it happens, a job opened up near Deborah’s hometown and Ian got the job! It really worked out perfectly and we are extremely happy for them.

It also means that, 35 years after you retired as a community college prof, we once again have a community college professor in the family. Something about that just makes me giggle every time I think about it.

By the way, a lot of my love for history I got from you. Thank you for that. Inasmuch as I could, I tried to pass some of that on to Ian. I think that worked out okay.

That’s my news and I think I’ll bring this missive to a close. I promise to keep you updated on future Father’s Days. As I said earlier, you don’t have much choice in the matter, so you might as well make your peace with it.

One final item. In last year’s letter I asked you to talk to the Big Guy about the Royals. They were quite the embarrassment and I despaired of them ever again being competitive. Well, thanks you both of you. They are once again fun to watch. As it happens, Ian might be attending a history conference in Kansas City in October. Do you think you might drop a mention about some playoff tickets? Just thought I’d ask.

God bless you,

Dave