My heartfelt thanks to Holistic Wayfarer (on A Holistic Journey)and the amazing writers with whom I share this space to pay tribute to our fathers.
Happy Father’s Day to dads … past, present and future.
When I was not yet three years old, John Richard and Grace Elizabeth Ingram adopted me from an orphanage in southwest London. When I was four, a stroke left Dad paralysed down his left side; he died when I was 18.
I can still hear the cranky squeaks of your wheelchair. And the clicking of the calipers attached to your legs below the knee. There was the incessant wheezing from the asthma that later attended the paralysis. Your body was your burden. Your light relief was watching the BBC news and “being tickled pink,” as you liked to say, by the old classic British comedies. Dad’s Army. The Good Life. Rising Damp. As a child I longed to pick you up and carry you on my back. Far and away from your wheelchair and back to the fleeting memory I had of you as my able-bodied dad…
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Michele D'Acosta 
Dear Michele,
That was a lovely tribute to your father. I don’t think I’ve read an English writer who’s father, (or Guardian) WASN’T a minister. Thank you for you encouraged me to call my Father, and to be truthful I was waffling, I feel much better having done so. All the best to you and your family! Michael
Dear Michael, I’m always so delighted to hear from you. What you said about English writers and their “minister fathers” made me laugh out loud! You’re probably right… Jeanette Winterson’s evangelical upbringing springs to mind 🙂 It’s so heartwarming to know that you reached out to your father. We each improve the other…. All the best to you and your family. Love, Michele