To All the Dads Who Are Getting It Right: Happy Father's Day
Johnny and his father, John Weir, in a scene from Pop Star on Ice.
First, please let me say: Dear Patti. I am so very sorry that you lost your father just a few days before Father's Day. My heart goes out to you, especially today, and your family is in my prayers.
Secondly, because it's Father's Day, my thoughts naturally turned not to my father, who wasn't much of one, but to my husband, who is a truly wonderful father to our children--the kind who always got down on the floor to play with them even though he was 40 when our first child was born 17 years ago and his knees, creaky and misshapen thanks to high school football injuries, made it really hard for him to get back up off the floor when playtime was over. But he never gave it a thought because there was nothing more important to him than being eye-to-eye with his children in their world, whether he was helping our daughter in her beloved Esmeralda dress escape from evil Frollo, or racing endless Hot Wheels with our little boy, sending them careening down the hall, then retrieving them and doing it again, over and over and over ...
And because my husband is a really great dad who still loves football to this day, he reminds me of Johnny's dad, a high school football hero who went on to marry the sparkling spitfire head cheerleader and have two beautiful boys. They named their firstborn son 'John' after his father, and their younger boy 'Brian' for football legend Brian Bosworth (I understand they mostly always call him 'Boz' for the same reason).
The elder John Weir is a man who shies away from the spotlight and seems happy to let his wife take the lead there, but who is clearly just as powerful a force of parenting goodness as the indomitable Patti. Whenever Johnny speaks of his childhood, he always praises both his mother and his father for encouraging him to be fully himself. From his speech at the EQCA event: 'I can only say thank you to my family for raising me in such a way that I can completely believe in everything that I do. [As the crowd cheers loudly] Yes: For Patti and John!'
But I don't know a lot about John Weir, who chooses to remain a very private figure, other than through these rare glimpses of him:
(1) A fascinating interview with Johnny and his parents in the Washington Post on the eve of the 2006 Olympics, one of the few articles which includes John Weir. My favorite quote is the one with which the writer chose to end the article:
'My child's not weird,' [John Weir] told a reporter when
queried about Johnny's reputation. 'Everyone else is.'
I am very much reminded of Kurt's remarkable dad on Glee.
(2) The screen cap above, the only scene (I think) in Pop Star on Ice in which John appears, when Johnny returns to Quarryville Elementary for a meet-n-greet with the kids. I love the postures of father and son. Johnny is listening to a sort of pep talk from the school principal, but in that moment as captured here, it's like his eyes are gazing ahead with anticipation and excitement to his future: his goals, his ambitions, his dreams, everything that he hopes to accomplish; and he's determined and raring to go. While his father's gaze--as he leans forward, bracing himself against a chair in an attempt to ease his excruciating chronic back pain--simply, gently, rests on his son.
(3) The .gif below, from the same section of Pop Star on Ice. After the pep talk, Johnny heads toward the gym to meet the kids. But he stops in the hallway here, with his dad, and they hug each other. His father, a burly guy compared to the slim, lithe Johnny, kisses his son's cheek, envelops him for just a moment, then lets him go. He steps back, and Johnny moves on to the journey that lies ahead of him.
(3) The .gif below, from the same section of Pop Star on Ice. After the pep talk, Johnny heads toward the gym to meet the kids. But he stops in the hallway here, with his dad, and they hug each other. His father, a burly guy compared to the slim, lithe Johnny, kisses his son's cheek, envelops him for just a moment, then lets him go. He steps back, and Johnny moves on to the journey that lies ahead of him.
These three moments say it all to me. This is what a real father does: He is his child's champion, speaking up on his son's behalf; he stands firmly behind his child; he holds him tight with all the love in his heart; and then--he lets him go.
I can't imagine a more beautiful or powerful Father's Day message.
Dear John, thank you to you and Patti for showing us what good parenting is all about: Loving your child fiercely enough to let him go be who he is, wherever that may take him--and standing behind him all the way.
Best wishes to you this Father's Day and always.
Congratulations to Johnny for an
awe-inspiring appearance at Skate for Hope last night!
We so very much appreciate his performing
under such difficult circumstances.And congrats also to Johnny for winning
NewNowNext's 'Most Addictive Reality Star'!
PLEASE KEEP VOTING for him as Skater of the Year
in USFSA's 2010 Readers' Choice poll
(voting ends July 15)!
Be Good Johnny Weir also is up for a Tubey Award
for Best Candid Reality Show! Vote here!
(The show is listed on the second page among categories 5-8)
Be Good Johnny Weir also is up for a Tubey Award
for Best Candid Reality Show! Vote here!
(The show is listed on the second page among categories 5-8)
Coming soon: More info about the spectacular
Crème de la Crème Runway Fashion Show on Ice
in Detroit featuring Johnny
next Sunday and Monday, June 27 and 28!
Crème de la Crème Runway Fashion Show on Ice
in Detroit featuring Johnny
next Sunday and Monday, June 27 and 28!
copyright 2010 / Binky and the Misfit Mimes / Lynn V. Ingogly / all rights reserved
Excuse Me, I'm Looking for Some 'Crème de la Crème'? Why Yes, We Have That Right Here...
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