The conversation that changed everything happened in a college dorm room in 1979.
I was pledging my sorority, sharing stories about our families. One by one, my sisters talked about their mothers with warmth and admiration—and dismissed their fathers with eye rolls and shrugs.
I stayed silent. Not because I had nothing to say, but because everything I had to say was about my Dad. The relationship I wanted to share—filled with presence, emotional support, and genuine connection—felt like it would create a disconnect I couldn’t afford.
But that silence stayed with me.
Years later, watching Natalie Cole perform her Grammy-winning duet with her late father, I called my own Dad to tell him how much I loved him. How grateful I was. How much I appreciated having him in my life.
And I realized: There’s an entire dimension of fatherhood that culture barely acknowledges.
So I launched Glad About Dads—inviting people to capture reflections about fathers and male role models who actually showed up. That anthology challenged the narrative positioning dads as secondary parents or emotionally unavailable providers.
That was over two decades ago. The inquiry never stopped.
Now I’m building Soul Masculinity — exploring what life looks like when men lead with emotional intelligence, vulnerability, and authentic connection. When they model flexibility over rigidity. Presence over performance. Capability over armor.
My Substack is where those lessons live.
Once a month, I share stories from my Dad’s life and how they show up in mine. Not as nostalgia, but as lived wisdom about what happens when masculinity evolves beyond cultural scripts. When a Girl Dad gives his child permission to be fully human—and reveals what’s possible for everyone.
Some stories are about risk-taking and reinvention. Others about emotional presence. All of them about what a Girl Dad actually does: he doesn’t tell you how to live. He lives in a way that makes you believe anything is possible.
If you’re part of the FFTS community, you already know the power of inspiration and evolution. This is that same conversation—applied to fatherhood, masculinity, and the next generation.
Subscribe here and join me in discovering what masculinity looks like from this Girl Dad’s vantage point—one story at a time.
Wholeheartedly,
Views and Reviews