Mother's Day was last month and this month we'll be celebrating Father's Day. Somehow Father's Day is celebrated on a lower key than Mother's Day.

On Mother's Day we attended a dinner organised by our church to honour parents. I invited my old friends to join us, friends of long standing. My dear old friend and I were in the teaching profession while our spouses were civil engineers so we do have many things in common.

This evening they called on us to see how my spouse was getting on. He had taken a fall on Sunday morning, missing a step on his way downstairs and there was a cut just above his eye which required 5 stitches. Fortunately his spectacles did not break or cut his eye although the frame was badly bent out of shape.

The stitches were removed yesterday afternoon and except for his shoulder, he appears to be fine. The shoulder injury will take a while longer to heal as he has torn the ligaments. His arm was immobilised in a sling for the past few days but the doctor said he need not use it anymore since he felt better.

So he will be in fine fetter for Father's Day celebration. My friends' visit was the bright spot in an otherwise gloomy day, with the rain falling non-stop for the better part of the day.

The newspapers have been advertising massage chairs, Ipads and other electronic gadgets as eminently suitable gifts for the man in the family.

It is good that young people do care enough to take their parents out for a meal on this Day to acknowledge their father's love and guidance aside from the fact that he had been the family provider and funding their education.

It will be even better if young people recognise that their parents are now aging and there will be a reversal of roles whereby they ought to care for and provide for their parents in their twilight years. This is not just material needs but emotional needs where communication, compantionship and feelings of being loved and wanted are food for the soul.

Happy Father's Day!