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Of Dads and Randomness Suzanne W. Vincent

Father’s Day is coming up in the United States. This month we feature a wistful story (“Five Times I Have Slept at Your Bedside” by Jared Adams) of a father who emulates this quote from William Shakespeare:

“It is a wise father who knows his own child.”

I sat and pondered on that quote for a while. I found a great deal of depth and layered meaning there.

I considered my own father and the relationship I have with him. My husband and the relationship he has with our children. My father-in-law, too. (I can’t consider my son. He hasn’t bothered to make me a grandmother yet.)

Shakespeare doesn’t say a happy father, or a fulfilled father. He says a wise father. He doesn’t say loves or appreciates. He says knows.

How does a father know his child? It’s more than simply love. It’s being there. It’s watching a child move through the phases of life with wonder, with awe, with hope and joy and expectation. It’s being caught by surprise when you seem to have blinked and the years have passed and the child is grown and waving goodbye, but realizing that the time has passed so swiftly not because you have missed the sweet moments of fatherhood, but because you have lived them and loved them and become a better person because of them.

Now that, my friends, is wisdom.

Happy Father’s Day to every man who has been there for a child.

The rest of this month’s stories are, well, kind of random, but I’m sure you’ll love them, too! I did.

Like Sarah Beaudette’s beautiful sci-fi story, “The Strawberry Queen of Irapuato.”

Or another strong sci-fi adventure, “Place Your Bets,” by David Whitaker.

Also this month, our featured reprint, with Irish harp (I love Irish harp), “Songs in the Key of Chamomile,” by FFO alum, Rebecca Birch.

Enjoy!

© Suzanne W. Vincent

Meet the Author

Suzanne W. Vincent

Suzanne Vincent is the editor-in-chief of Flash Fiction Online. That’s what people think anyway. Actually, she’s really a pretty ordinary middle-aged woman packing a few extra pounds and a few more gray hairs than she’s comfortable with. As a writer, she leans toward the fantasy spectrum, though much of what she writes is difficult to classify. Slipstream? Isn’t that where we stick stories when we just can’t figure out where else they go? Suzanne’s first professional publication was right here at FFO, published before she joined the staff: “I Speak the Master’s Will,” — a story she’s still very proud of. While she doesn’t actually have time to blog anymore, she once did. You can still read her ancient posts on writing at The Slushpile Avalanche. Suzanne keeps a house full of kids (3), a husband (1), and pets (too many to number) in Utah, USA. Yes, she’s a Mormon. No, there isn’t another wife. Mormons haven’t actually practiced polygamy since the 1890s. Too bad. She’d love to have another woman around to wash dishes and do laundry.

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