>Salute to Two Fathers

>Today I want to salute a couple of dads who are dear to my heart. First, my own father, Bill Johnson, who died at age 68 of lung cancer, on July 9, 1998. Dad was a marathon runner, owner of Bill Johnson’s Phidippides Sports in Jackson, Mississippi from 1982-1997. He was known as the “guru of running” in Mississippi. You can learn more about that part of his life here. I remember family vacations, following Dad around various golf courses, watching him compete in tournaments. It wasn’t the beach, but the swimming pools and golf cart rides weren’t so bad. This is a (poor) photograph of a watercolor of Dad running in the Mississippi Marathon one year.

Here’s two pics of me and Dad back in the 80s…

The second father I want to salute today is my son, Jason. Jason and his wife, See, are expecting their first child—Grace Mahlia—in about a month.

Here’s Jason assembling Grace’s crib in their apartment in Denver. I laughed when See sent me the pictures, imagining many more things that Jason will have to assemble in years to come. So today is Jason’s first Father’s Day! Next year maybe Grace will be calling him Daddy!

Happy Father’s Day, Jason!

I love and miss you, Dad.