A little bit about a lot of things:

• Parents are people who never stop being important to us, and twice a year we honor them with a day all their own.

Sunday is the day set aside for dads, a Father’s Day that will be difficult in our household......our first since the passing of Kathy’s father in mid-December.

Without doubt, it will be a day when we feel his absence....just as we also remember the many ways in which he touched those around him, giving others strength and courage and support, knowing when to lend a hand and when to stand aside.

That’s what dads do, you see.

Kathy and I were both blessed with great parents....and I’m glad we have had the opportunity to know one another’s mom and dad. Knowing each other’s parents somehow helps us know one another on an even deeper level, I believe. They are a huge part of who we are.

Dads are the people who have endless patience for our “why” questions of youth, explain to us how they know that the refrigerator light goes off when we close the door, let us tag along when they’re doing something we find absolutely fascinating, tolerate us when we’re teenagers, accept our explanation for how that dent appeared in the fender of the car and offer appropriate words of wisdom such as “Money doesn’t grow on trees” and “Ask your mother.”

Dads will go without for themselves to provide for their family, and they have no greater pride than in seeing their own sons and daughters flourish.

They are people who can help make the world right when it seems everything is going wrong.

We grow to appreciate our parents even more when we become adults and parents ourselves, when we realize how they have sacrificed for us and shaped us.

Parents never quit being parents; and their children never quit needing them, long after they are no longer kids.

I see a lot of my dad in myself; just as I see in Kathy the influence of her dad.

On Sunday, we honor dads with a very well-deserved day of recognition.

• Tough times all around, it seems. Between skyrocketing gasoline prices, inflation, the foreclosure crisis, rising unemployment, etc., the economic news is bad and getting worse. From individual households to businesses on Main Street, the economy is taking its toll.

Those who fuel up at the pump aren’t the only ones bitten by high gasoline prices, by the way. Gas vendors are on the front lines, but the outrageous pump prices aren’t going into their pocket. In fact, some have said, gasoline is nearly a “loss-leader” that brings customers into their stores to purchase profitable items such as soda, chips and candy. But there are only so many dollars to go around, and when somebody has to put it all into the pump to get to work the next day, there is none left over for the convenience store items.

Those gasoline vendors are also suffering some of the same consequences as the rest of us.....one store owner showed me his most recent invoice for a gasoline delivery which included a hefty “fuel surcharge” on top of an already substantial delivery charge for the load.

A fuel surcharge to get gas to the pump so it can be sold for $4.50 a gallon....things are rapidly going from ridiculous to insane....

• They’re ready to drop whatever they’re doing and respond when the call for help goes out.....but our volunteer firefighters don’t always get the recognition they deserve.

Sunday was a particularly busy day for West Side volunteers, who battled a large fire in the Hills Ferry area and another blaze near Highway 33 and Stuhr Road a short time later.

That’s hard, hot, dirty and dangerous work....and the firefighters sure aren’t doing it for the money!

Serving as a volunteer firefighter is a huge commitment of time, and our communities owe those individuals a debt of gratitude for the protection they provide and the comfort of knowing that help is at hand when needed.

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