Tag Archives: father-daughter relationships

Family, Relationships

The Tale of Two Gingers and Two Frenchmen: Semantics and Secondary Growth

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From the back of the line inside a trendy, suburban Starbucks, I had a vantage point to observe the scene and plenty of time to do it.

A young couple stood face to face in front of me. His cream colored sweater emitted the scent of a spicy cologne. Her soft, strawberry-blond curls were tousled and the front of the locks around her face were anchored into place with a bobby pin or two.

DeusXFlorida - Starbucks photo

Photo by DeusXFlorida – via Flickr, some rights reserved.

His shiny clean face smiled intermittently toward her soft, honey tinged and translucent face, sans any hint of makeup.

My brain classified tha=eir appearances as a “Ginger” and a “Frenchman.”  His lightly tinted olive skin and black hair were shiny, too, with freshly applied hair product topping off this perfectly trimmed cut.

Her manner was genteel; his was suave, but matter-of-fact.  My gaze left their image long before their gaze would leave each other.

As I looked toward the table section, I spied a deja vu.  Same coloring, but drastically rearranged.

In the corner table by the shelves full of coffee products for sale sat a Ginger and a Frenchman.  She was tiny and her legs dangled from her chair while her neck strained to reach the tip of a straw poking from her orange juice container.  Her honey shaded, translucent face was kissed completely with a soft dusting of freckles.

She guided her tiny index finger over a reserve of crumbs on the table, then pressed it down over the morsels until they attached.  Once in place, the crumbs were brought to her mouth and sucked off her finger with a giggle as she directed a sideways glance at her Frenchman father. Continue reading The Tale of Two Gingers and Two Frenchmen: Semantics and Secondary Growth →

Man Cave

How Five Simple Rules Morphed Into a New Blog

FULL DISCLOSURE: What follows is, in many ways, a bit of shameless self-promotion for a new project I’m working on. You’ve been warned.

A few weeks ago, I posted a list of five rules for dads raising daughters. When I wrote that post, I was simply trying to clarify some of my own thoughts on parenting, fatherhood, and raising little girls – thoughts that had been largely influenced by a number of books (Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters by Meg Meeker, Bringing Up Girls by James Dobson, The Heart of a Father: How You Can Become a Dad of Destiny by Ken Canfield, and many others) I’d read in the months leading up to and following the birth of my daughter last September.

I had a lot of fun coming up with those five rules (I guess they were more like suggestions than hard fast rules) and when I eventually hit the post button on the blog, I felt like I had a pretty good foundation for my own philosophy of fatherhood.

As someone who uses the written word to cull out meaning from his experiences, seeing my ideas finally crystallized in written form felt really good.

At least at first, I felt what I think was a sense of closure. “Okay,” I thought, “I’ve finally got all of this stuff out of my head and now I can get back to putting my creative energy into blogging about the masculine experience.”  That was all good and well, except for one thing… that’s not really how my mind works.

No sooner had the post been published than I started thinking of other ideas I should have included in my original list of suggestions. In an effort to simply try to clear my mind, the next morning I opened a blank text file on my laptop and started to type. That’s when the ideas started flowing. My fingers couldn’t move fast enough to keep up. Continue reading How Five Simple Rules Morphed Into a New Blog →

Art, Photography, Relationships

Mission Statements for the Essence of Parent-Daughter Living

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Friends, our contributor group is a special collective of talented, loving, thinking folks.  In our short time together, I’ve become very endeared to them. It might be because when people write, you see their souls.  And, reading their souls each night has made me feel close to them – even though I don’t spend much time with them.  In a few weeks (or perhaps longer), one of our contributors will be revealing a project he’s been working on; it’s a contest of sorts, and is a cool thing.  He’s given me permission to preview a few of the images attached to this project.  They are simply photos, with life statements for parents regarding their daughters.  I hope you enjoy the preview glimpse, and I look forward to when he’s ready for the “big reveal.”   – Red Dirt Kelly, on behalf of [michael]

Continue reading Mission Statements for the Essence of Parent-Daughter Living →

Man Cave

Rules for Dating My Daughter

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While my wife was pregnant with our little girl last summer, I spent a lot of time thinking about certain things I wanted for her in life and continue to do so today, now that she’s almost five months old. And as the father of any little girl will tell you, one of the things a dad thinks about from the very earliest days of his daughter’s precious existence is who will some day replace him as the number one male in her life. While it would suit me just fine if  my daughter was single all of her life (sort of “the Mother Teresa” approach) I realize it’s more likely than not that a young man will come along and want to date her Last summer, with these things in mind, I composed the following 15 rules (technically they’re more like principles) that any young man would be wise to heed if he wishes to pursue courtship and romantic involvement with my daughter.

1. You must read this blog in it’s entirety. Not only is it full of wisdom, but what better way to a young woman’s heart than through the mind of her father?

2. Your automobile must be brand new and equipped with the latest safety features. Driver, passenger, side, and curtain airbags must come standard on your car. Dynamic traction control is a plus, as are roll bars, reinforced steel door pillars, anti-lock breaks, and crumple zones. When you come to pick her up for your first date, please bring a copy of either the Car and Driver or Motor Trends safety report for your trusty rubber-footed steed. I will read it while we sit and wait on my daughter to finish getting ready. If I have questions, I will ask you. Do not speak until you are spoken to.

3. My daughter is always to be returned in better condition than when you picked her up. I call this the return policy. Violate it and I will charge you a steep re-stocking fee.

Continue reading Rules for Dating My Daughter →