It's My Mantality

I heard a new phrase. In describing the guy who came to an agreement about the large purchase he and the wife decided on, was sent to the store alone to get it, and came back with bigger (and might I add, Better) item.  I came away with, "it's his MANtality". 

Mantality: The mental reasoning taking place inside the head of a man.

Love it and proud of it! Sure, it will get me into trouble sometimes, but men have a certain way of thinking that women don't. It's by design! It's the yin and yang thing. It's the turbocharger in the brain that gets us from a complacent 'Yes, dear' to 5 foot flames coming out of the fire pit because someone dared you lower a Dixie cup of fuel into the burning pit.

I am a father who sensitive to the missing maternal factor in his own home. When little Adam and Eve need something, I work to provide it, whether it be a cool fort or hand-sewn costumes. During Eve's young years, she would say to her mom, "I want daddy to brush my hair" because at my place, there weren't as many hair-pulling screams. I can do that maternal-edged stuff because my kids need that when I have them. But they also get the "Hey, let's drive 3 hours to a new soap box car hill where we can scream down at 30 MPH!" dad.  Halloween is at my place because costumes can become living beast, worthy of long-term memories.

I value my mantality. That is what made a couple of boxes to play inside, become 14 heavy boxes sewn together to create a castle with working suspension bridge between to 7 foot climbable towers. Adam's bout with chicken pox was made much more livable when he got to stay home from school with his dad and help build it and play in it.

Mantality was needing to get the wasp nest down from the 2nd floor eaves. I pulled out my 30 year old BB gun. It worked so well that I then used the same method to knock down the one by the upstairs window. Okay, stupid idea, I know. The resulting hole in the outer pane was a natural consequence to my mantality at the moment.

My mantality is just one thing that keeps me alive and vibrant. My kids need that as a role model, of the way to be and sometimes NOT to be. They see me laugh at myself and they see me accomplish great things. One thing I am definitely proud of is that all of those parts of me make me a great dad.  I just like to roll in the mud of my mantality just to keep it real.