The third Sunday every June is the time to celebrate Father’s Day.

However, it hasn’t been nationally recognized for that long. The first official Father’s Day came in 1966, when President Lyndon Johnson declared the third Sunday in June to be the holiday, though it wasn’t another six years before the day became permanent when President Richard Nixon signed the proclamation.

The original idea is said to come from Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Wash., after her church celebrated Mother’s Day in 1910. Dodd’s mother passed away during childbirth and the younger Dodd pushed for the local churches in the area to celebrate Father’s Day because her father had to become mother and father during her years growing up. Her father’s birthday was in June as well.

Over the years, people went before the United States Congress to lobby for Father’s Day. President Calvin Coolidge, in 1924, made a national event to establish more intimate relations between fathers and children, though it would take another 42 years before it became a holiday.

This week, many stores in downtown Washington had signs out front telling us not to forget to buy something for dad before Sunday. Step into any place that sells greeting cards, signs will be plentiful about Sunday’s holiday.

Whether our fathers taught us to play sports or got us interested in another activity it’s a good day to say thank you dad.

Most have had that special moment in life that he or she got to share with dad: from living room wrestling matches, taking trips to Yankee Stadium or working on the family farm.

For all the dads out there, Happy Father’s Day.