I'm sorry this comes too late for Father's Day-but 'Better late than never', as my own father often said to me.

Janet recently found a truly inspiring video on the Internet; it's about a father and his handicapped adult son.

Dick and Rick Hoyt are a father-and-son team from Massachusetts who compete together in marathon races; this video shows them in a triathlon-that almost superhuman combination of 26.2 miles of running, 112 miles of bicycling, and 2.4 miles of swimming. Together they have climbed mountains, and once trekked 3,735 miles across America.

It's a remarkable story-especially when you consider that Rick can't walk or talk.

David Tereschuk, in an article for multi'merica.com, writes:

"For the past 25 years or more Dick, who is 65, has pushed and pulled his son across the country and over hundreds of finish lines. When Dick runs, Rick is in a wheelchair that Dick is pushing. When Dick cycles, Rick is in the seat-pod from his wheelchair, attached to the front of the bike. When Dick swims, Rick is in a small but heavy, firmly stabilized boat being pulled by Dick."

You can read the rest of Tereshchuk's description at www.teamhoyt.com.

There's a tendency (especially for guys) to identify with the father, Dick Hoyt. But try to see it from the point of view of Rick, the son whose physical impairment came from an accident that deprived his brain of oxygen at birth. His participation in the race is a gift from his loving father. Engineers from Tufts University have restored his ability to communicate, using a computer; through it Rick says that he doesn't feel handicapped when they are competing together. Seen that way, the video becomes a vivid picture of the relationship our Father in Heaven wants to have with us all-and that, I think, restores Father's Day to its right perspective. So in that spirit: a belated Happy Father's Day to everyone!