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I think a Happy Father's Day text and a weekend spent binge watching Orange is the New Black solo will suffice for now.

My sisters like abusive relationships. No matter how many shattered phones, empty bank accounts, bruised eyes & egos they suffer, they keep making their abusers their #MCM. The sisters I’m…

I saw a friend from high school post that his daughter’s mother was once again keeping him from seeing his child.

This was not the first time he had posted about their relationship woes and her using their child as a pawn. Most of the comments expressed sympathy for his situation and ended in “it only hurts the child in the end” or something similar to it.

Same day I see this post I happen to be reading “Shedding Soul Ties” by Marlene Downing. And it hit me! Children are permanent soul ties. Like in “Not EASILY Broken” when the pastor told them that if God was the 3^rd tie in their marriage it would not be easily broken. Why don’t people have conversations about reproduction using this language?

The day before this epiphany, my mother told me Step Dad #1 called her and said “Your Daughter resurfaced” Though they have no biological kids together, their love for each other’s kids has continued to keep them bound to one another. Always serving as a conversation starter, a reason to reconnect, a grounds for collaboration.

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Stereotypically speaking, I shouldn’t be who I am. A friend of mine told me this weekend I had all the makings of a THOT: Teen Mom, absentee Dad, a love for Baltimore Club Hits that include the word “freak” and some other vulgarities.

But I’m not a stereotype. Not in that way at least. Last week, I went to support some kids in a poetry show for a program I used to work for. A friend of mine joined me. We had a great time and were both touched by the poem based on the Daddy Issues of a 6^th grader.

We talked during the reception, to former colleagues and people we never met. At the end of the night one of those former colleagues walked us to my car before heading to his own. When I dropped my friend off to the train station she referenced this colleague and said “You’re a better woman than I am. After the relationship yall had, I don’t see how you can be so platonic with him.” I simply responded. “That was four years ago.”

Remember when I said I wasn’t a stereotype?

Well, according to an article by The Atlantic the CDC reports the average age Americans lose their virginities is at age 17. I was among that 12.3% of women still a virgin between ages 20 and 24. That is until I met this colleague. I’ve written about that experience before on Dealing With Daddy Issues as well as Sex and the Sisters, but never really about how I got past it.

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For My GranPa'sBirthday

I guess some women are able to absolve men from the consequences of their actions easier than others. Or maybe, in another 20years when I’m her age I’ll agree.

Two days ago the Super Bowl aired. One of my favorite parts of Super Bowl Sunday, and arguably the best, is the flood of new commercials that ultimately set the tone for the year & often times integrate themselves into our everyday lives.

*I’m still saying “You son of a biscuit eating dog!”

This Year a commercial released a few days before game day has stirred up quite a bit of Buzz.

Pantene’s Dad-Do commercials were a hit among most and a silent jab to others. The display of Daddy-daughter bonding was definitely heart-warming. What hurt was the tag line at the end.

“Girls who spend quality time with their Dads grow up to be stronger women.”

It automatically took me back to my birthday in December where I overheard a pre-teen girl tell someone her father is and has been incarcerated for most of her life, but she tries not to let it get to her, because she knows it will make her stronger in the end.

WHO IS CONDUCTING THIS RESEARCH?!

My focus for February has been Foundations of Love: Examining the Foundations of Love my “Daddies” have laid for me. But this commercial incited a need for me to conduct my own research.

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