DOWN HOME:
In this corner, wearing the
goofy tie, Nerd of the Year
___Lindsay stood in my closet and stared at my clothes.
___"What are you doing in here, Sweetheart?" I asked.
___"Well, tomorrow is Nerd Day at school, and I'm looking for an outfit," she replied.
___Kids really know how to hurt a guy, don't they?
___I remember the Good Ol' Days--not so long ago, or so it seems--when my daughters thought their dear daddy was cool.
___Of course, they still were preschoolers and hadn't seen much of the world. They came running to the door when I arrived home from work, squealing and giggling and grabbing
me by the legs. They thought I looked great, played great, even smelled and sang great. They really believed I could take on any challenge and walk away victorious. They believed that if dragons existed, their daddy could slay one.
___And then they started growing up.
___They learned some people dressed differently, liked different kinds of music, enjoyed different foods.
___They realized Mama and Daddy couldn't solve every problem.
___They even began to have ideas of their own--and expressed them.
___So now I'm nerd fodder. My wardrobe brims with possibilities for looking hick, out-of-date, uncouth.
___Not that the girls don't care about my feelings. Lindsay tried to patch things over.
___"You've got to admit that tie I wore to Nerd Day last year really is out of style," she said. And she's right. That tie hasn't been in style in her lifetime.
___(The incriminating question is this: Why, if I'm even modestly aware of fashion, was that tie still hanging in my closet? The only plausible answer is that ties, like politics, are bound to come back in style eventually.)
___When it comes to my daughters' public display of nerdiness, size is my advantage. Most of my clothes are too large and uncomfortable for them to want to wear to school all day, no matter how magnificently nerdy. Lucky for me, they turned on their mother. They offset their own nerdily wrinkled khakis and oxford shirts with out-of-date scarves and belts from Joanna's side of the closet. The difference is she intended to throw that stuff out; I'll probably wear those ties again.
___Their strategy worked, too. Lindsay won some spirit award and came home with a sack full of candy. My old ties never achieved such honor.
___OK, so my kids think I'm sort of nerdy. But at least I'm their nerd. They know I'm crazy about them, and if that's nerdy too, then that's just fine.
___Sometimes, it's a dad's job to be old-fashioned. Because old-fashioned principles like love, respect and honor --unlike large-print floral ties--never go out of style.
___And as long as Lindsay and Molly still come around for hugs and kisses, they can steal my nerdy ties any time.
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