Letter from a dad to his “cutie-pie”
Dear Cutie-Pie,
Recently, your mother and I were searching for an answer on Google. Halfway through entering the question, Google returned a list of the most popular searches in the world. Perched at the top of the list was “How to keep him interested.”
It startled me. I scanned several of the countless articles about how to be sexy and sexual, when to bring him a beer versus a sandwich, and the ways to make him feel smart and superior.
And I got angry.
Little One, it is not, has never been, and never will be your job to “keep him interested.”
Little One, your only task is to know deeply in your soul—in that unshakeable place that isn’t rattled by rejection and loss and ego—that you are worthy of interest. (If you can remember that everyone else is worthy of interest also, the battle of your life will be mostly won. But that is a letter for another day.)
If you can trust your worth in this way, you will be attractive in the most important sense of the word: you will attract a boy who is both capable of interest and who wants to spend his one life investing all of his interest in you.
Little One, I want to tell you about the boy who doesn’t need to be keptinterested, because he knows you are interesting:
I don’t care if he puts his elbows on the dinner table—as long as he puts his eyes on the way your nose scrunches when you smile. And then can’t stop looking.
I don’t care if he can’t play a bit of golf with me—as long as he can play with the children you give him and revel in all the glorious and frustrating ways they are just like you.
I don’t care if he doesn’t follow his wallet—as long as he follows his heart and it always leads him back to you.
I don’t care if he is strong—as long as he gives you the space to exercise the strength that is in your heart.
I couldn’t care less how he votes—as long as he wakes up every morning and daily elects you to a place of honor in your home and a place of reverence in his heart.
I don’t care about the color of his skin—as long as he paints the canvas of your lives with brushstrokes of patience, and sacrifice, and vulnerability, and tenderness.
I don’t care if he was raised in this religion or that religion or no religion—as long as he was raised to value the sacred and to know every moment of life, and every moment of life with you, is deeply sacred.
In the end, Little One, if you stumble across a man like that and he and I have nothing else in common, we will have the most important thing in common:
You.
Because in the end, Little One, the only thing you should have to do to “keep him interested” is to be you.
Your eternally interested guy,
Daddy
One tree hill is amazing and I adore Nathan and Hayley, but I’m definitely going to have to say my alltime favorite TV couple is Pacey and Joey in Dawsons Creek.
“Pacey, this is about how you carried my bag off the bus yesterday. This is about how when we go to the movies and you go and you buy popcorn you always make sure to bring an extra napkin so I don’t wipe all the grease on my jeans. This is about how just last week when we were at miniature golf you took all the shots first so I would know the correct path. You taught me how to drive. And last year at prom you knew that the bracelet i was wearing was my moms. You kissed me first, sweetheart. The second time you counted to ten before doing it again just in case I wanted to stop you. You bought me a wall. We were alone on a boat for three months and you understood without a word why I wasn’t ready. Do you have to ask me now why I’m ready? Pace, I’m going to count to ten and then I’m going to start kissing you. And if you don’t want me to then you’re just gonna have to stop me……..ten, my love.”
Remember when Dawson’s Creek was supposed to be about Dawson and Joey? But then Pacey came on the screen and everyone was like, Dawson who?
I AM COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY IN LOVE WITH PACEY WITTER AND IT HURTS TOO MUCH TO EVEN THINK ABOUT. AND I’M GONNA DIE BECAUSE HE ISN’T REAL AND GIVES ME FALSE HOPE ABOUT MEN.
Dawson’s Creek- Season 3 Episode 1 -Like a Virgin
Pacey: It’s a new year, Joey. You never know, we could even end up friends.
Joey: Pacey, I’m upset enough as it is.
