A Good Man.

Susie recently celebrated big birthday number EIGHT. This is SO hard to believe, since I documented her birth story on this blog here like TWO WEEKS AGO.

We had a party.

She got some gifts.

And seeing as how my mama taught me good Southern thank-you note etiquette, I have, naturally, taught my girls the same.

One thank-you note in particular was written to a certain gentleman friend who has been a nice addition to our lives lately. He contributed to Susie’s birthday celebration in a number of ways, one of which was helping me to assemble Susie’s new eighth-birthday-gift loft bed.

And so as per our Southern etiquette, she wrote him a thank-you note, which came complete with a drawing of a fox and a coyote howling at the moon, as all proper Southern thank-you notes should. Then she ended the note with,

“…and we have a really good present for you and you’re a good man.”

Her note made me (secretly) laugh for a lot of reasons, but mostly

1) I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE REALLY GOOD PRESENT IS, but I guess we should get him one now, because Susie promised, and

2) because she included that last line in her note.

I’ve made a point to comment OFTEN on the good men in our lives.

I think it’s important, for obvious reasons, that my girls can recognize a good man when they see one.

Apparently Susie has been listening.

This guy has fixed my sprinkler system more than once, fixed my lawnmower, and spent entire Saturdays helping me in my yard. He’s taken a look at Katie’s car when it was making a noise, loaned me his extra car when mine broke down, opened every single door, and, gosh, so many man things that it would literally take me ALL DAY LONG to list, and every single time he does something nice for us, I make a point to say,

That was so nice of him to do that for us. He is a GOOD MAN. Those are the kinds of things GOOD MEN do.

My dad is this same type of guy.

My whole LIFE, there is not one thing I’ve needed that my dad didn’t provide. When I first became a single mom, my dad was the one doing all the man things, fixing all the things, providing all the things, being a good example for us of what a good man does.

I used to catch him on my security cameras showing up at my house when I wasn’t there, to fix my disposal or hang a light fixture or just to check to make sure the doors were locked.

And I pointed that out to my girls, too.

Pawpaw takes such good care of us. That was so nice of him to fix our disposal.

The Bible has a few things to say about it.

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children…

I know my life has been significantly more comfortable and prosperous because a good man left an inheritance.

A good man WON’T spend every penny he has on himself, because he will be concerned with having something to leave to his kids.

And if he can’t, a good man will be REALLY bothered that he can’t.

A good man cares for the needs of his animals…

That’s pretty self-explanatory.

A good man keeps his animals fed and safe and takes them to the vet when they need to go to the vet.

And that’s all I’m going to say about that.

A good man takes care of widows and orphans…

… and I imagine single mamas and their kids fall into that category.

Thankful for the good men in our lives who show my girls what a good man should be.