One time I crew changed in NY Harbor. I forgot exactly where but the driver's route took us past a big office building where we got stuck in traffic for a while. I saw a woman come out of the building in an expensive tailor made woman's business suit. She was impeccable, professional hair, nails the whole thing.
I was mildly surprised to see a limo wasn't there to pick her up. Instead she walked to the edge of the sidewalk, looked up and down the street hunting for a cab.
When she spotted one she put two fingers in her mouth and cut loose with a whistle that could be heard for several blocks. Ellie May Clampett would have been proud to hear it.
I bet she learned how to whistle like that from her father or maybe an uncle. She had some male influence in her life. Not too many mothers teach their daughters to whistle like Ellie May Clampett.
Right now the stats for black run that 70% of children are raised by single mothers. Whites run about 14%. It shows.
People say that young boys don't have mentors and while that's true they forget about the fact that about the same number of girls are raised without a father.
Most well adjusted women I have met over the years that have had a father figure of one sort or another in their life.
Over the years I have run into a small handful women that have been raised by men and they are rather interesting. They tend to prefer the company of men. Men seem to automatically like them and they tend to instinctively trust them.
One woman told me she was raised by a WW2 fighter pilot, an uncle and her father's cronies. She was a real character and fearless.
Another time I had a flight cancelled and rebooked for about 3 hour later. I met a woman there and we pased the time chatting wile sitting at the gate. She had been raised entirely by her father because her mother was a hopless alcoholic. I liked her and she told me that she had taken the lessons she learned in life to insure her three kids were raised right. Without telling me I had guessed there was a male influence in her life while she was being raised.
When I was little I met a distant relative by marriage or adoption that I liked but she passed before I was about 10. Dad told me her father was a logging camp supervisor and a widower. She had been raised and home schooled by her father and loggers. Dad always spoke VERY highly of her. Her husband had made his career in early aviation. They had met while he was a barnstormer according to family lore.
I guess that it really takes both parents to do it right, though.
I try to keep and eye on people's mannerisms and it's interesting to watch. One time I watched a woman teach her young son how to tie a hook onto a monofiliment line. Curiosity got the best of me and I asked where she had learned how to do that. She said she used to go fishing with her father.
The woman across the street used to hunt deer with her husband. I asked her and she told me she used to hunt with her father.
Yesterday at a sportsman's club event I met a family of four, mom, dad and the two kids. I noticed that dad was doing his job with the two girls spending time with them and giving mom a break. The little one was one of the cutest, happiest children I have ever seen. She was well on the road to being a heartbreaker. I gave the mother a tongue in cheek standing offer of $3 for her. She knew how to take a compliment. She smiled proudly and said "No sale."
I marveled at the way dad spent his time with the pair of them. Unless something stupid comes along those two are going to grow up to be wonderful people.
It's somewhat of a shame that people don't realize how important a father figure is to a girl. A good father can make quite a difference when raising children.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this:
http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
