Six-Word Search: Dad
From the outpouring of memoirs on fathers and fatherhood, it's clear: pops are important, their impact felt whether present, absent, or no longer with us. At their best, and occasionally, at their worst, fathers have helped shape your worlds. Many Sixers revere their Dads—some traditional, others, unconventional—and reflect on how each has influenced the other’s lives.
With Father’s Day approaching, we take this time to celebrate fatherhood, in all forms and descriptions. Join us and enjoy a few of our favorite Six-Word Memoirs on Dads as we honor all of the exceptional men who touch our lives so profoundly. If your father did not meet the mark, hopefully you know a Dad who has and can think of him today.
Measure of good dad, his son.
— Mark Hashizume (with his son, above)
When I shave, Dad's the reflection.
— Vincent Aurelius
Dad had a second job...Superman.
— MariaMaria
Fishing, farming, camping. Childhood with dad.
— rustlingleaves
Met man, my dad in disguise?
(click memoir to read the backstory)
— Mourning-dove
Six-Word Search: "Dad"
With Father's Day approaching, many of us at SMITH Magazine are struggling to get our gift ideas together in time for the holiday. Dads aren't always the easiest people to shop for. They can be stern or goofy, close or distant, helpful or harmful; the variations are endless, and no two relationships with a father are quite the same. Still, whether we love him, hate him or are just starting to get to know him, we all owe half of our genetic material to someone somewhere, and every third Sunday in June, we are reminded of that fact. Here's what you Sixers had to say about Dad. Click on each writer's screen name for more memoirs.
Fathers are plentiful. Dads are rare. -RayRichmond
Duct tape was his tool chest. -Sarmors
Dad's just jealous of my style. -Apollo
Dad wants to be the hero. -Waiting4Someday
My mom is a good dad. -montsse
“Parenting: Idiot. Expert. Idiot. Expert. Idiot.” Six Words for My First Father's Day
Among the many true clichés about parenting is that you fall madly in love with your child. True, true. For me, I both near-instantly fell in love with my boy but something else happened that I hadn't quite planned for: I fell in love all over again with my first baby, SMITH Magazine.
How so? Well, if I've learned one thing about what drives people to write Six-Word Memoirs in more than five years of editing the project is that it's passion. When you're passionate about a topic—your own life overall or in a particular part of it (your love life, your food life, being a mom)—you tend to write often and from the heart. When my son Lukas was born I was overwhelmed and underslept but I still wanted to somehow document this major time of change, confusion, and amazingness. Like so many of you, I decided to tell my new dad life story six words at a time. (And then, years after we launched Six-Word MOMoirs, finally got Six-Word for Dads going).
If you look at my SMITH profile which lists all my stories, 31 of my last 33 Six-Word Memoirs are about my new dad life. Over at my friend Johanna Myers McChesney's blog for her company, Isis Parenting, I've highlighted a handful of my recent Six-Word Memoirs and included a short backstory or life lesson for each.