For Goo on Father's Day

            I try to stay grateful and keep the positivity flowing. I really do.   But I am, by nature, more of a bitcher than a beatifier.  Every time I try, it just comes out sarcastic and everyone starts looking for the punchline.  I really don't know why.  (Why are you all sniggering?!?)  But, once in a while, it's probably good for my soul to try.  So this is for you Goo.

            So, Goo, thank you for the following:

1) Thank you for being one of those straight men who actually LIKE women.  I'm not talking about being attracted to women. I mean you like us. You like our company and naturally include us in the process of your day to day life.  It never occurs to you deny me or your daughters any opportunity for ANYTHING based on our gender.   You have never ever been threatened by the idea of woman having power or ability or control.  We have all noticed.  And it's a BIG deal to us.

2) Thank you for being secure enough in who you are to never be bothered by anyone else's eccentricities.  You have spent almost all of your adult life being surrounded by people who lose their minds with joy when the soap smells right.  Not every man would be willing to shower with rose or lilac soap. You don't blink an eye when your eldest insists that we evict spiders instead of killing them.  You let your youngest call you GOO.  In public.  And to the point where other grown ups don't even know your real name anymore.  

3) Thank you for being the yang to my yin.  I get it, nothing new here. It's supposed to work that way.  But you really do complement me.  You drive, reach the tall shelf, evict bugs with ease.  And you don't mind that I am better at the checkbook, picking furniture, organizing our day. It's nice to know that if I fill out the paperwork (so you don't have to set it on fire in the driveway) you'll field the phone calls.  (So I don't have to set THAT on fire in the driveway.)  And since relationships are often about negotiation, thanks for also thinking rock, paper, scissors is a perfectly fine negotiating tactic.           

4)Thank you for mistakenly thinking I was cool enough to not tell me you were a nerdy gamer until you found out I was even nerdier than you.  And thanks even more for being impressed by the fact that I know what "dex+brawl difficulty 6" means even if I can't remember that when it matters.

5) And most of all, by being all of the above, thank you for teaching your daughters that no matter who they are, a good man will respect them and treat them as equals.  Men of quality respect women's equality.  Strong men appreciate strong women.  Thanks for being Goo enough to teach our girls all that.