A Father's Day Gift

According to the Melanoma Research Alliance, men are more likely to discover melanoma at a later stage and twice as likely to die from it. And if your father (or grandfather) is a typical guy, he’s probably spent a bunch of time outdoors without any protection from any sissified, sweet-smelling sunscreens and he’s sustained a lot of sunburns over the past few decades. So, in addition to giving him a Father’s Day Gift he’ll actually enjoy—like a bottle of single malt scotch or a box of ammunition—try talking him into getting a thorough skin check. It’ll be a gift that just might save his life.

If you can get him to see a dermatologist who specializes in diagnosing melanoma, rather than doing girly cosmetic stuff like tattoo removals and Botox injections, good for you. But if he’s anything like me before my check-in to The Hotel Melanoma, you’ll probably have about as much success in getting him to see a dermatologist as you would in persuading him to attend a Miley Cyrus concert. My own primary melanoma tumor was spotted and biopsied by a ‘plain old’ family medicine specialist who knew his ABCDEs of melanoma and performed a thorough inspection of my weathered hide in the course of a routine annual physical. So don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good, and call it a win if you can convince Dad to have his primary care doc perform a full-body skin check the next time he sees him.

For all of you whose own father is long gone, but never forgotten and often seen in yourself and his other descendants, I’ll sign off with an unaltered song for Father’s Day-- Eric Clapton’s “My Father’s Eyes”…



Sailin' down behind the sun
Waitin' for the Prince to come
Praying for the healing rain
To restore my soul again

Just a toe rag on the run
How did I get here?
What have I done?
When will all my hopes arise?
How will I know him
When I look in my father's eyes?

My father's eyes
When I looked in my father's eyes
(Look into my father's eyes)
My father's eyes

Then the light begins to shine
And I hear those ancient lullabies
And as I watch this seedling grow
Feel my heart start to overflow

Where do I find the words to say?
How do I teach him?
What do we play?
Bit by bit, I've realized
That's when I need them
That's when I need my father's eyes

(Look into my father's eyes)
My father's eyes
That's when I need my father's eyes
(Look into my father's eyes)
My father's eyes
(Yeah)

Then the jagged edge appears
Through the distant clouds of tears
Now I'm like a bridge that was washed away
My foundations were made of clay

As my soul slides down to die
How could I lose him?
What did I try?
Bit by bit, I've realized
That he was here with me
And I looked into my father's eyes

(Look into my father's eyes)
My father's eyes
I looked into my father's eyes
(Look into my father's eyes)
My father's eyes

My father's eyes
(Look into my father's eyes)
My father's eyes
I looked into my father's eyes
(Look into my father's eyes)
My father's eyes

(Look into my father's eyes)
(Look into my father's eyes)
(Yeah, yeah)
(Look into my father's eyes)