Happy Father’s Day to all of the Dads in our lives!

To celebrate Father’s Day we slept late (10am!) and had a delicious breakfast from the nearby bakery that is open on Sunday (some are open on Saturday, some on Sunday; we suspect that the times and days that bakeries are open is carefully coordinated by the Ministry of Pain et Pâtisserie). Chris had a mille-feuille, also known as a Napoleon at home. Then we got on the Metro to visit Parc des Buttes-Chaumont in northeast Paris.

It was just what we hoped for. The weather was mild and the kids had lots of time to run around and explore. This is a really neat park. It’s a former quarry with quite a dramatic topography plus lots of green space, bridges and a monument in the middle. We had a picnic lunch and the kids each got a giant lollipop with an ice cream chaser. Everett came back to the apartment with Gabby and Grandaddy via Uber. Chris and Melissa came home on the Metro with the twins. In the evening we relaxed at the apartment and watched the World Cup. Then the kids watched a movie while the adults played cards for a while. Then lots of bedtime drama and everyone went to be around 11pm.

One funny thing Chris and Cress have experienced as Dads is the incredible disparity between work life and home life. For example, the other day during dinner Everett made an offhand comment to Grandad that he would make a good waiter. This is probably true, but should be taken in context that he also had an extremely successful career at Procter and Gamble, and he is good at a lot of things. And we suspect that his performance as a waiter is restricted to a very small group of clientele mainly comprised of his family.  Grandchildren receive the finest service.

Another funny thing about Dads is their fashion sense (or lack thereof). And yet, according to the New York Times, Dads are now at the center of the style universe. The adjectives used to describe this trend are roughly what I would expect: uncool, old fogy, schlubby, baggy, unsexy, chunky, fuddy-duddy. The article reads: “Brands are trying to produce mystery in this overexposed atmosphere. They’re doing it by either picking something extremely random or something extremely obvious. Dad style is both.” This movement is currently called dadcore, or normcore. It is described as “stuff that is self-consciously unsexy, or even un-self-consciously unsexy.” “It’s about wanting things that aren’t branded. Things that are worn, the color’s faded, there’s sun damage. It’s like it had another life before you had it. There’s history in the garment.” After reading the article I discovered that I could easily spend over $3000 on an outfit of sneakers, jeans, a fleece jacket and a baseball cap (oh and a fanny pack). But why is this necessary when Dads’ oblivious behavior in the first place is what cause this fashion trend? It sounds like a way for men to spend obscene amounts of money to strenuously create the appearance that they have done the hard work to make their clothes look worn. Here’s a litmus test: 15 minutes from now when the fashion world has moved on, will Dads change the way they dress? The ones who work hard will not, at least not until years from now when their clothing has disintegrated and they are forced to buy something unbranded and reasonably priced.

So cheers to all of the hard working Dads in our lives, whose clothes are now worn out as a result, so much so that they will never even be aware of their missed opportunity to walk the runway.