The Job Of A Dad

Charlottesville

January 6, 2025

The Twelfth Day of Christmas. Or the Thirteenth Day if you count Christmas Day as the First Day.

When I was about 12 years old (I think), my parents gave me a present about how to tie knots. I can still picture the instruction card and the two strings — one red and one white. Funny I remember that because I never learned how to tie any knots from that card. Or anywhere else.

But they tried. In my perfect world, a father’s job is, in part, to teach his children to be handy with home and car maintenance and to tie knots. I did none of those. Probably because I am none of those.

That failure motivated today to learn how to tie a slip knot and a square knot. Time will tell if I remember tomorrow how to tie them. I’m also working on learning how to tie the “king of all knots”, the bowline.