NOTE TO DADDIES #5: SOMETIMES HUNTERS REALLY DO KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT.

You know, pushing 50, THIS DADDY would like to think he’s learned a few things. In many of the contexts of life, work, love, etc., THIS DADDY has been there and done that. After dating for over 25 years, I thought I’d learned everything possible and experienced it all. But you know what? It turns out that I was wrong. After being alone for 3 years, I found myself dating a nice young Hunter I met on Daddyhunt. Not my type at all. I tend to date really masculine, stable to the point of boring guys, who, while on the one hand they might love to cook, on the other their idea of a good time is fixing the plumbing. Hairy, messy, overtly intellectual (he reads Kant for fun), utterly unable to cook, no use around the house, prone to flightiness, at first, neither of us thought our involvement would come to anything of substance. We both acknowledged from the start that he was too young (mid-twenties) and too unstable (he hated the city in which I live, was planning on going away to graduate school) for us to have a ‘serious’ relationship. True to form, in this relationship as in others, I was my usual gruff, curmudgeonly self. I was bossy, insisting that everything was my way or the highway. I am the Daddy, after all. I think I figured, what’s the harm. He isn’t going to be around long anyway. You know what? Unlike others, some Hunters, some not, I’d dated through the years, he called me on my crap. He wasn’t afraid to tell me when I hurt his feelings or when he thought I was being bossy just to be bossy. In doing so, he made me think about my patterns of behavior. He taught me to be, or at least think about being, more patient and less authoritative. He even taught me that it is tolerable to find dirty socks lying around the house in all sorts of weird places and learn to accept cabinet doors being open all over the house. If an old dog like THIS DADDY can learn new tricks, especially from a young puppy, perhaps you can too. Personal growth occurs through learning life’s lessons. A smart Daddy would be wise to remember this fact. While it is definitely true that sometimes, most times really, Daddy does know best, sometimes a Hunter can teach his Daddy a thing or two.

At least this is what THIS DADDY thinks.