Oftentimes we associate Father’s Day with a celebration for dad, treating him and spoiling him with all his favorite meals, plans, activities, gifts and more.
Father’s Day is the one day a year where we pause and dedicate our energy to the male figures in our lives- our dads, our husbands, our grandparents, our uncles, etc.
What if this Father’s Day we made a greater effort to honor the ancestry and the legacy that our fathers have ultimately brought to this world and to our families? Doing so, we would not only focus on providing our fatherly figures with tangible expressions of our love and care, but also with connecting to his essence and remembering the history of our lineage.
Crazy how the simple act of reflecting on our past and our ancestry is a more challenging deed than what we’re accustomed to doing, buying him a lavish gift, taking him out to a fancy restaurant, etc.
We know that it can be tough to express appreciation for one’s legacy, to honor our ancestor’s and represent our family members from past generations. One might ask, how do I honor my legacy if there’s no specific, physical act to demonstrate that?
Being part of a family of three daughters, we were always prepared for the moment where our last name, Apeloig, would no longer physically identify us. We didn’t want this fact to cause our last name to disappear and hence, we continued to carry it with us in our aura, essence, behavior, traditions and of course, our brand!
We took the pillars that formed our family and constructed our own lives according to that foundation, leaving the Apeloig mark on everything we touched.
Part of the reason we prioritized this so enormously was because we came from a tight knit Jewish community in Caracas, Venezuela, where typical of any community, one’s family and background really identified a person. A family was recognized for their contributions to the community, their deeds, skills, and ultimately a legacy that they’d construct over time. One’s lineage and last name carried weight.
We took great pride in the name and reputation that our father built through hard work and dedication, and we didn’t want to lose that in any way. In our day to day we make decisions that are influenced by our father’s teachings, we lean on our past to guide our future and plant seeds of our history in every aspect of our lives.
Apeloig to us is not only our maiden name, it is so much more than that! It is the core of our being, it is the lessons that allowed us to grow into what we are today, it is accountability for our actions and it is honoring the generations before us by performing acts of kindness and good.
Wouldn’t dad be proud to know that you feel enormous gratitude and respect for the man he is? And better yet that the influence he’s had on you is the vehicle for what you are?
Let dad know. Let dad know how impactful he is on you and your success. That is the best Father’s Day gift you can give today and it’s cost, $0.
