Joe Burris is here on Father's Day Friday:

Recently my 3-year-old daughter Onalenna’s day school announced its pre-Father’s Day celebration for all the students' dads. Accompanying the announcement was the message that dads who couldn’t attend should get their wives to stand in.

I didn’t bother to ask my wife if she and other mothers got a similar message on Mother’s Day.    And I don’t know if the school’s intention was to embarrass dads into coming (I get the feeling that most of us would have come anyway), but the turnout was great. In a room with about a dozen children, of different ages, races, backgrounds and professions, all but two kids’ fathers showed up.

I think that it was not only great for us to be there for our children, but we all delighted in seeing so many of us present. Even in an age where dads are more available for involvement with their children inside and outside the home, they’re often difficult to come by at such events -- even those where they are celebrated.

I must say, however, that the visit came with a bit of trepidation. During the Mother's Day event, the kids presented moms with handmade flower plots and grew plants inside _ but someone forgot to tell them that they would have to forever part with their creations. My wife says as the mothers departed, the kids reached for the gifts, and the room was filled with shouts of “Mine! Mine!”

We dads were more fortunate. We were presented with handmade greeting cards and travel mugs with their drawings and were allowed to keep them when we departed. We all got big kisses and hugs and goodbye waves that made me feel as if we had done something magnificent, just by being there.

I’m already looking forward to next year.