I’m a sap. Just a total sap. I know that, and I’m pretty comfortable with that. With the advent of social media, there is a “brand” that tends to be associated with you as a person, whether it’s what you’d pick or not. I think I’ve realized that through a few attempts to step away from the aforementioned mediums, as well as through “inventing myself” to fit in through various moves during my school-years.
If I were to be a spokesman, and it was decided by my Facebook friends what I would advertise, it’d probably be Baby powder or carseats, or something. I’m open to alternatives if you have any.
That being said, I take a certain amount of pride knowing that I don’t hide the fact that my wife and daughter bring me joy. So I guess another thing I’d get behind as a spokesman is just like…family. And stuff.
This blog is rapidly becoming a place for me to just let words that I think in my head fall out of my brain through my fingertips and into the great wide interwebs, the tubes (look up “Alaska Senator Internet Tubes” if you haven’t yet) where all the information in the world goes. Perhaps me throwing some “dad who doesn’t totally know what he’s doing but is enthusiastic about being a dad” type wisdom is what someone out there needs.
Remember the first thing you saw here? The picture at the top of my baby girl watching me mow the lawn? I love that picture, because it reminds me that my kiddo watches me and learns from me.
With that in mind, I heard a song (that I had actually downloaded for free and never listened to awhile ago) called “Try” by Colbie Caillat, and it said a lot of things I hope that I model for my daughter (and my wife, and my sisters, and all the women I know). I want them to feel like they don’t have to be someone they are not when I’m around. I don’t ever want to hear that my daughter is somehow afraid to tell me something because she believes I will love her less, or think less of her as a person. It will definitely happen…I’m sure of it, the part about her not wanting to tell me something. But as far as my love for her goes…it won’t.
I think this song is a song that a lot of guys like myself need to listen to for our own edification. Not just because of how it shapes our view of women/womanhood, but also because the message (even if the lyrics don’t quite land) is something we need to hear.
I want my daughter to know that she doesn’t have to be artificial in order for me to want to show her off, and proudly proclaim that I am her Dad.
But I (and we) all need to realize that often times it isn’t as easy as just “you don’t have to try.”
On the contrary (and I think what Colbie Caillat is advocating) is that we often DO NEED TO TRY. We have to try…to not let ourselves fall victim to our culture’s perception of what makes something beautiful. So on the one hand, I don’t want my kiddo to waste her energy trying to live up to an artificial standard of beauty and poise that IS NOT REAL. Or if it is “real” in the sense that it exists, it isn’t “real” in the sense that it is meaningful.
Now this post is already long, so I’m going to just come back (since, let’s be honest, this is a blog about me learning how to do life, and fatherhood is my life right now) to this at a later point. To summarize though:
Lindy Frances Rima, when you are reading this in 2o years after downloading it directly to your brain via WI-FI, please know that I’m going to TRY to be there every step of the way, as you TRY to live your life knowing you don’t need to TRY to become something you aren’t, just to impress people who are stuck in the “trying” cycle, for the benefit of people who make money off of creating insecurity and then providing the “fix” for it.
Psalm 100:3
“Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.”
Check out the lyrics to the song, and a link to the video on Youtube below:
Try – Colbie Caillat
Oooh
Oooh
Put your make-up on
Get your nails done
Curl your hair
Run the extra mile
Keep it slim so they like you, do they like you?
Get your sexy on
Don’t be shy, girl
Take it off
This is what you want, to belong, so they like you
Do you like you?
You don’t have to try so hard
You don’t have to, give it all away
You just have to get up, get up, get up, get up
You don’t have to change a single thing
You don’t have to try, try, try, try
You don’t have to try, try, try, try
You don’t have to try, try, try, try
You don’t have to try
Yooou don’t have to try
Oooh
Oooh
Get your shopping on, at the mall, max your credit cards
You don’t have to choose, buy it all, so they like you
Do they like you?
Wait a second,
Why, should you care, what they think of you
When you’re all alone, by yourself, do you like you?
Do you like you?
You don’t have to try so hard
You don’t have to, give it all away
You just have to get up, get up, get up, get up
You don’t have to change a single thing
You don’t have to try so hard
You don’t have to bend until you break
You just have to get up, get up, get up, get up
You don’t have to change a single thing
You don’t have to try, try, try, try
You don’t have to try, try, try, try
You don’t have to try, try, try, try
You don’t have to try
You don’t have to try, try, try, try
You don’t have to try, try, try, try
You don’t have to try, try, try, try
You don’t have to try
Yooou don’t have to try
Oooh
Oooh
You don’t have to try so hard
You don’t have to, give it all away
You just have to get up, get up, get up, get up
You don’t have to change a single thing
You don’t have to try, try, try, try
You don’t have to try, try, try, try
You don’t have to try
You don’t have to try
Take your make-up off
Let your hair down
Take a breath
Look into the mirror, at yourself
Don’t you like you?
Cause I like you
Read more: Colbie Caillat – Try Lyrics | MetroLyrics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXoZLPSw8U8
Intern at Life 