In country music, fathers are either saints with strong hands capable of spinning wonder and magic, or grim drunks who want nothing more than to beat their wives and children and induce general misery. After spending a lifetime listening to some of these songs, some bringing tears to our eyes (screw you, Conway) we can only hope that one day our own kids will write about us in a glowing twang, remembering the time we killed a bear with just a can opener while landing a passenger jet blindfolded.

This Sunday is Father's Day, a day to honor all of our fathers who worked so hard to make sure we were brought up clothed, fed and reasonably content. Craig's Hlist's own father is a lucky guy, seeing how his birthday was last weekend and this coming weekend holds Father's Day. It's like two straight weeks of love, hugs and presents.

He got a new rifle last weekend.

CHL really can't describe here all the ways that Craig Sr. has influenced our life and writing, but rest assured it's a very great deal. Moustaches, guns, knives, perseverance, morals, exercise? Our dad instilled all these things into CHL, plus a healthy love of thrift stores and garage sales.

Maybe when we were young, we did think he was a jackass out to destroy our lives, but the older we got, we realized we were learning more from each other than we knew possible. We were both new at dealing with one another. We're the firstborn, so it's not like he had years of experience in raising a dramatic and overly-theatrical ball of macaroni and cheese that CHL was. Or still is now.

Unlike most of the pops in these songs, our dad was always there for us, even if he worked a lot. If we didn't talk much it was because he was tired or we didn't "get" each other at the time. Today, we are more like partners in crime. We look alike more as the years go by, though we can't beat his moustache.

So if your father is still around, give him a call or go have a hang. He will appreciate that way more than any last-minute gift certificate or power tool. Unless it's a really cool power tool that can, like, clone Kate Upton or something.