My Dad Wears a Fanny Pack

Fanny-tastic: The fanny pack is back. At least, if you believe the company Pawpular Pooch (www.pawpularpooch.com).
Its executives are trying to revive the fanny pack for, of all people, owners of pampered pets. On its Web site, the company features a fanny pack-like contraption that has a place for treats, baggies and a cell phone. Publicity materials for the illustrious product are effusive in their praise: "It's stylish, FUNctional, and it fits right around your waist!"
I'm afraid that was what was said about the original fanny pack, perhaps the most unfashionable accessory ever created by man.
I know a thing or two about fanny packs. My dad, an emergency room doctor and father of 11, wears a fanny pack every time he comes to Utah to visit me. To give him credit, the man has always preferred function over form and could care less what people think of him. When you've got nearly a dozen kids and a TNT network-worthy job, you probably don't worry too much about finding the perfect stylish European carryall. And he's quick to say the fanny pack is a very handy way to carry around cash and important documents.
I've overlooked my dad's collection of novelty ties, his Club Med T-shirts, and the time he wore sneakers with a suit to my cousin's wedding. And I accept the fanny pack -- which, by the way, he only wears when he's traveling (read: every time he visits me) -- as part of his goofball charm. But to my pretty-boy brother-in-laws, the fanny pack is fodder for unending amusement and ridicule. I say, let them laugh.
Out of loyalty to a man who sometimes wears soccer cleats with his hospital scrubs, I salute Pawpular Pooch in its efforts to revive the fanny pack. For some, it never went out of style.
-- Elyssa Andrus
This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page B1 on Oct. 25, 2006.