Commentary By Mike Holmes

Special to The North Jefferson News



Editor’s note: We asked the author to write a semi-regular column for us on the challenges of being a husband and father, all while operating a successful business (Chick-fil-A) and being an active member in his community.

I don’t know about you, but I love this time of year.

Any self-respecting male who lives under the “man law” code feels a little testosterone surge when football season finally arrives with all the fanfare we’ve come to enjoy in this great state. After all, football is the one subject that we as men can comfortably converse about with any other man on the planet.

Let’s face it, most of us men are not that big into “talking.” (ex. Think of the emotion you felt the last time your wife told you, “We need to talk.”)

Now I’ll be the first to admit that I may be a bit shallow and my phone is not exactly ringing off the hook with invitations for public speaking. But, give me a chance to talk mano y mano about college football, and I will morph into an outgoing, intelligent, self-confident disciple of Dale Carnegie himself.

I am trying to “stretch” myself and become more well-rounded, but it will take a lot of effort on my part because of the whole old dog, new tricks thing.

The one thing I can honestly say has been an easy transformation for me in my adulthood, occurred as the result of the birth of my daughter, Reagan.

I have always been such a “guy”— you know, lacking emotion, short on affection.

I was not prepared for the meltdown at the first sight of my daughter. It all caught me off-guard because I was mysteriously overcome by emotions I had never experienced before.

I had trouble trying to determine how all this fit into my existing world, but resolved myself to just give it some time. I mean, what if my buddies found out that I actually enjoyed just standing in her room at night watching her breathe, or that sometimes I would get misty eyed just holding her. Would I be shunned? Banned from football parties? Ridiculed unmercifully as we men like to do?

Well, eight wonderful years later I can tell you that I’ve got it all figured out, as I’m sure all you men out there with daughters have discovered.

Are you ready for this new installment into “man law”? You are never more a manly man than when you shower that little princess with love, tell her what a special gift she is and are not afraid to show her your emotions.

So breathe in the sweet air of college football and give your daughter a biggie-size daddy hug. It’s all good.

Mike Holmes is the franchisee and operator of Chick-fil-A of Gardendale. He can be reached at cfa87@bellsouth.net.