Happy Father's Day To My Dad, Brother, Brother-in-Law, Nephew, Cousins & All The Other Good Papas

Above is a screen cap of Google's Father's Day animated Google Doodle with the animation paused on the part of the animation which looks to be a human Father holding a baby.

Google's animation appears to expand the Father's Day concept to the entire Animal Kingdom, with a fox, bird and possum and their offspring representing the non-human part of the Animal Kingdom.

The Fathers in my immediate relative circle are my dear ol' dad, the pa of me, my brother and my three sisters. My brother is the pa of two of my nephews, Jason and Joey. My brother-in-law is the pa of my other two nephews, Christopher and Jeremy. Jason is the pa of my nephew, Spencer Jack.

Jason is being a dad cut from the same mold as my dad, what with taking Spencer Jack on fun vacations. Currently I think Jason and Spencer Jack are still in Hawaii, but I do not know that for certain.

It was from my dad I learned to love a Roadtrip. Dad always made Roadtrips stress-free. Unflappable he was, not matter what, a vehicle breakdown, driving in Los Angeles for the first time, no matter what, totally unflappable.

I learned my highly evolved level of unflappability, driving-wise, from watching my dad drive in vexing traffic situations, like on the streets of San Francisco, a trailer in tow.

My first Roadtrip that took me to San Francisco, and beyond, free of the parental units, I was driving up Lombard Street, hoping to drive down the curvy downside, but my old Mustang's clutch started slipping. I had to back down the hill, other cars honking at me. I was unflappable, thanks to dad.

Later that same trip, after watching a late night taping of Laverne & Shirley at Paramount Studios, the clutch totally gave out on the streets of Hollywood. The clutch died right in front of a big service station. Spent the night sleeping in the car. Next morning the service station was able to fix the clutch. I was unflappable, again, thanks to dad.

I actually remember that weird night stuck in Hollywood as quite amusing. But was glad to see LA in my rear view mirror the next day.

Over the years there have been many a Roadtrip incident where my dad inherited unflappable-ness has been a good thing.

I remember a flat tire in Death Valley. There were two vehicles on this Roadtrip. The Goober Twins went into full panic mode at the flat tire. Their dad was not an unflappable sort, so they never learned the art of unflappability. I knew worse case scenario we could walk the five miles to Stovepipe Wells where I had made reservations for that night months prior. Turns out the spare worked fine, easily got to Stovepipe Wells, then the next day had a mighty fine time in the California town of Bishop getting the flat tire fixed.

That flat tire incident became known as the Curse of the Luxor Obelisk.

Anyway, Happy Father's Day.....