Father's Day

Several years ago (eight of them to be exact-time is starting to feel like a joke) I was getting on a plane back to Boston after a day of meetings in New York. It's a short trip so I just grabbed one of the lame free magazines they have in the terminal for people like me who would likely be on their blackberries anyway.

I happened to pick up a preview for Men's Health (what?) that had an article about fatherhood with 10 lessons from a "wise guy who's done doing the dad thing." The piece reduced me to a complete mess in my seat and I have since dragged that magazine through two more country moves and then here to Colorado. I read it every so often and I read it A LOT after I get my heart broken to remind myself what kind of guy I want playing dad to my future kids. It's a terrific article and although I've never been able to find much more than this online, you get the gist.

So I was pretty thrilled a few weeks ago when my dear friend from college wrote to tell me he has a book coming out called "Dad Rules" -a collection of some of the advice he has picked up in his years as a father to four beautiful daughters and one baby boy.

I met Treion my sophomore year at Southern Utah University. He was South African and really handsome so he became something of an instant celebrity at our small town school. We delighted in getting him to say things with his cool accent and kept him up way too late on school nights entertaining us.

Fortunately Treion was far more than a sophomore year novelty and we stayed good friends throughout the rest of school. We worked in the campus bookstore together and he holds the distinction of being the only candidate for Student Body President I ever supported who actually won. He's quite simply one of the nicest and most humble guys I know and over the years watching him become a husband and father and take it incredibly seriously has been a delight.

I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy of the book-I ended up reading the whole thing in one sitting and feeling the same way I did as I read that article on the plane.

I love that we live in an era where being a good dad is cool. I love that men are more involved with their children's lives than ever before, and I really, really love having so many wonderful examples of outstanding fathers in my own life.

Treion's book comes out this Tuesday and if you are a dad, you have a dad, or you know a dad, you should pick it up.  Even though my three brothers TOTALLY RULE at being dads, I'm getting one for each of them.

My brother being an awesome dad.