Today is Father’s Day. My father is gone now so I can no longer wish him a happy father’s day. But I can wish it to all the wonderful fathers I’ve known in my many years of work in social services and with the Alaska Court System in Barrow. Some were foster fathers. Some were grandfathers. Some were uncles. Some big brothers. All stepped in to help kids whose birth fathers were unable or unwilling to be the dad the kids needed. These other wonderful men stepped up to the plate and tried to provide love and guidance to kids in desperate need of both. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it was simply too late. But that doesn’t matter today as much as the fact that these men were willing to try. Hats off to all of you.