Father's Day, who looked the happiest?

Father's Day tends to be a bit more understated
compared to Mother's Day.

But,
it is also a day when you can honestly say
"I love you" and "Thank you."

Daddy, thank you as always♡

-----

Two days before Father's Day.

"Father's Day is coming up, what should we give him?"

When I asked that,

my 5-year-old daughter said,
"I want to give him a letter♡"

and my 7-year-old son said,
"A bento box would be good!"

My daughter starts doing what she wants to do
right away.

She takes a piece of white paper from the usual shelf,
and starts drawing pictures all by herself.

She takes another sheet, and this time, she writes letters.

Since she can't write all the Japanese syllabary yet,
she brings the paper, a pencil, and a chart
to me in the kitchen.

She sits down flat on the floor
and starts writing.

"How do you write 'pa'?"
"Which one is 'i'?"

"There's a circle above the 'ha'"
"The 'i' is for 'ichigo' (strawberry)"

Asking questions like that,
she finds them one by one.


When she finishes writing,
she stares at the paper she worked so hard on,
and her face is overflowing with joy.

Smiling, smiling♪

My daughter
hugs the picture and letter she drew tightly.

Of course, she shows them to me,

"This is Daddy, and this is Mommy.
Mommy has braids, they're long!
This is me. I have the same braids♪
And this is big brother♡"

She even explains it all to me.

But, if you look closely,
even though they are smiling, for some reason, everyone has tears in their eyes.

When I asked why,

"They're happy tears♪"

It seemed my daughter already knew
that crying isn't just for when you're sad.
Perhaps it's because our family laughs so much,

and we love the times when we laugh until we cry.
I thought that was a very happy thing.

While hugging the present for Daddy,


my daughter asked me,
"Mommy, do you want it?"

"Yes, I want it♪"

"No way, you can't have it~~♡♡♡"

I wonder how many times we did that back and forth.


Usually,


"Mommy is number one, and Daddy is number 100"
is what my daughter says.But on this day, Daddy was number one!

I thought I wanted to show Daddy
this interaction too.
"Daddy will be so happy! Because it's so cute♪"

She even said things like that.

And then, Father's Day arrived.

It was a holiday, but
my husband was working and came home just after noon.

When the door clicked open,
my daughter, who was nearby, said,

"Can I give it to him now?"

She couldn't wait
to give it to him.

When I said "Sure," she ran over to Daddy.

And then, hiding the present behind her back,

"Daddy! Here I come! It's super cute♡
Here, it's for Daddy♪"

Saying that, my daughter
handed him the clay face of Daddy she made at preschool,
along with the picture and letter she drew at home.

"Thank you," he said,
and gave her a hug.

The time I spent watching that scene
felt so precious.



My son also drew a picture in the same way.
But my son is a little different.

He created a code like a mission,
and hid the picture and message under the chair.

It was a performance typical of my son,
who loves to make people feel excited,
surprised, and happy.

I couldn't help but smile.

I also thought about things I could do with the children.

Since my son said "bento box,"
I later embroidered their two pictures onto a bento bag.

Every time I stitched it,
it felt like the children's feelings
were slowly taking shape.

When it was finished,
my son wanted to give it right away,
while my daughter wanted to give it after packing the bento.

Even though they were a little hesitant,

"I really want to pack the bento and give it to him♪"

Saying that,
my son also nodded to his sister.


The night before making the bento.

While Daddy was in the bath or the restroom,
the children were secretly preparing.

Cutting nori (seaweed) into heart shapes,
and writing letters.

Even though they were almost caught,

"We did it!"
"I wrote 'I love you' inside the heart"

While talking in small voices,
they were smiling happily the whole time.



And then, the next morning.
The usual morning with preschool and school.

Without overdoing it,
just what they could do.

The two of them made rice balls,
and put on the heart-shaped nori they cut the day before.

Mommy was surprised.
Those hearts
were very well done.

The letters, too,
were packed tight with their feelings.

With straightforward feelings,
children convey their "thank yous" and "I love yous."

Those feelings
reached Dad just fine.



Because it's Father's Day,
don't forget to show appreciation to Dad.
Children delivering their love
in their own special way.

Being able to quietly help them by their side,
I felt happy.

On this day, we gave the "gift for Dad"
that the children thought of.

It's not an expensive thing at all, but
thinking of Dad,
preparing it in secret,
looking forward to the moment of giving it,

and the time spent laughing together.

Surely, those kinds of moments
will nurture the family's "I love you"
little by little.

To all the fathers out there,
thank you for all your hard work.

May you continue to share
warm times with your loved ones.