@byn,

Hey Byn.

We're very close and have been since Day 1. Our minds are so closely linked it's a bit eerie. We finish each others sentences and when we start brainstorming, it's a spectacle worthy of popcorn. It's like we can sense each other's thoughts.

It's funny ... I'm the stereotypical patriarch everyone's always complaining about ... but look what it's produced. A young woman that feminists would use as a poster-girl ... but one who is also stridently anti-feminist. Indeed, 90% of her Straight A girlfriends are similarly inclined.

And it's not just us. Every one of the "squared-away" girls I know has one thing in common ... a really good relationship with their Dads. It seems to effect every aspect of their lives: Academics; emotional stability; self-confidence; dating (they're all extremely picky ... something that all the other Dads have noticed as well) ... and general happiness.

Nothing in that statement, of course, is meant to diminish the extremely important role of great Moms but, for whatever reason, there seems to be something about the Father-Daughter relationship that makes or breaks them. Maybe it's the corny Dad Jokes. :-)

Parenting ... and extensive tutoring ... has made me a great believer in the traditional nuclear family (I'm not religious so that's a conclusion based purely upon empirical observation). Nature built in checks-and-balances that social engineering is failing miserably to replicate. I've witnessed a lot of heart-breaking situations ... perhaps, someday, I'll share a few.

Quill