Hero's hurrah for fathers

Dads

A big Heroes hurrah to all the dads kicking it with their kids in June. Father’s Day always comes and goes so quickly in our house and this year was no different.  

Who doesn’t love carrying on a tradition from their dad? Fishing, working on the car, playing catch or just sitting on the dock or back step shooting the breeze.

Life is busy and with so many activities with our kids, working overtime and balancing friends and family, sometimes it’s just nice to take a stroll down memory lane and catch up with our dad or in my case recently spend a half hour chatting with my own son on a car ride back from soccer.

He told me things I hadn’t heard before and it made me laugh, smile and answer some tough questions.

But the best part was when he asked me to go for ice cream. I said yes, let him pick the scoops and then he asked me to pay. I gladly accepted.

Thanks, son.

Cooks

It was a couple of Sunday’s ago as our family sat and ate a great breakfast at Sunny’s Diner downtown as the idea to celebrate cooks came into my mind,

I’m not talking about the well-known chefs, celebrities and award winners who typically garner all the spotlight.

I mean the prep cooks, line cooks, the team behind any great restaurant: chopping, blanching, and getting every last part of the plate ready to be passed past the watchful eyes of the head chef.

So whether it’s someone in your house who makes the effort for a mid-week meal seem fun, the best breakfast you’ve ever eaten or all the ingredients for your favourite pizza chopped just right, you know who to thank.

Let’s raise a glass to the cooks who keep it together.

And a special shout out to Chef Bernard, an award-winning top chef who isn’t too good to play the role of prep cook. That’s right, Chef, I saw you chopping, slicing and dicing in the back recently. Kudos, brother.

Lifeguards

We thought we would be proactive here at Ordinary Heroes and send a shout out to all the summer lifeguards that we know will be watching over our kids in the community pools and the sun-burned tourists splashing in our lakes now through Labour Day.

We know they love what they do and we rarely see them spring into action, but when they do, it’s like a well-oiled machine, (pardon the pun sunbathers) but I’ve seen lifeguards assist the young and old and they know just what to do at that crucial time.

Many of them are teens earning a summer living and carrying on their swim training. Baywatch may have made lifeguarding glamorous, but the reality is, these are highly trained rescue specialists who will no doubt save lives this summer.

The next time you hear a whistle blown by the water, respect it and give them a wave or high five for keeping our beaches and pools safe.

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This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.