Dad’s tear-jerking letter to daughter about future husband
<p>A father’s words of wisdom, strength and truth. Kenny Flanagan writes letters to his daughter about topical things, but this one about her future husband is particularly special.</p>
<p><strong>Dear Cutie-Pie</strong>,</p>
<p>Recently, your mother and I were searching for an answer on Google. Halfway through entering the question, Google returned a list of the most popular searches in the world. Perched at the top of the list was “How to keep him interested."</p>
<p>It startled me. I scanned several of the countless articles about how to be sexy and sexual, when to bring him a beer versus a sandwich, and the ways to make him feel smart and superior.</p>
<p>And I got <em>angry</em>.</p>
<p><strong>Little One, it is </strong><em>not</em><strong>, has never</strong> <em>been</em><strong>, and never</strong> <em>will</em> <strong>be your job to “keep him interested."</strong></p>
<p>Little One, your only task is to know deeply in your soul—in that unshakeable place that isn’t rattled by rejection and loss and ego—that you are worthy of interest. (If you can remember that everyone else is <em>worthy</em> of interest also, the battle of your life will be mostly won. But that is a letter for another day.)</p>
<p>If you can trust your worth in this way, you will be attractive in the most important sense of the word: you will attract a boy who is both <em>capable</em> of interest and who wants to spend his one life investing all of his interest in <em>you</em>.</p>
<p><strong>Little One, I want to tell you about the boy who doesn’t need to be </strong><em>kept</em> <strong>interested, because he knows you are</strong> <em>interesting</em><strong>:</strong></p>
<p>I don’t care if he puts his elbows on the dinner table—as long as he puts his eyes on the way your nose scrunches when you smile. And then can’t stop looking.</p>
<p>I don’t care if he can’t play a bit of golf with me—as long as he can play with the children you give him and revel in all the glorious and frustrating ways they are just like you.</p>
<p>I don’t care if he doesn’t follow his wallet—as long as he follows his <em>heart</em> and it always leads him back to you.</p>
<p>I don’t care if he is strong—as long as he gives you the space to exercise the strength that is in <em>your</em> heart.</p>
<p>I don’t care about the color of his skin—as long as he paints the canvas of your lives with brushstrokes of patience, and sacrifice, and vulnerability, and tenderness.</p>
<p>I don’t care if he was raised in <em>this</em> religion or <em>that</em> religion or <em>no</em> religion—as long as he was raised to value the sacred and to know every moment of life, and every moment of life with you, is <em>deeply</em> sacred.</p>
<p>In the end, Little One, if you stumble across a man like that and he and I have nothing else in common, we will have the <em>most important</em> thing in common: <em>You</em>.</p>
<p><strong>Because in the end, Little One, the only thing you should have to do to "keep him interested" is to be <em>you</em>.</strong></p>
<p>Your eternally interested guy,</p>
<p>Daddy.</p>
<p><em>This post is, of course, dedicated to my daughter. But I also want to dedicate it beyond her. I wrote it for every grown woman who has never known this voice of a daddy. And I wrote it for the generation of boys-becoming-men who need to be reminded of what is really important — my little girl finding a loving, lifelong companion is dependent upon at least one of you figuring this out. I’m praying for you</em></p>
<p><strong>Related links:</strong></p>
<p><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/news/news/2016/01/swimmers-evacuated-7-metre-shark-spotted/">Swimmers evacuated as 7-metre shark is spotted off coast</a></strong></span></em></p>
<p><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/news/news/2016/01/astronomers-dedicate-constellation-to-david-bowie/">Astronomers dedicate constellation of stars to David Bowie</a></strong></span></em></p>
<p><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/news/news/2016/01/the-panda-hidden-in-this-picture/">Can you find the panda hidden in this picture?</a></strong></span></em></p>
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