I had a long chat with my daughter last night – the 22-year-old university grad who works as a waitress but has it together enough I could crash at her place for a couple of nights last month.
I had to call her boyfriend’s phone because she dropped hers in the toilet, and she was at a bar and probably drunk, but she is Canadian. And I’m proud of her.
I told her about how I met the woman’s basketball coach at Kansas State, the legendary Deb Patterson
.
Gonzalo the vet student and I and his 16-month-old son went out to dinner last night; Gonzalo’s wife is working in Kansas City for a few days; it’s sorta normal for us new age guys to support our partners.
It’s also sorta normal for us to promote equality with our partners, daughters, everyone.
We went to CoCo Bolos in Manhattan; one of the Cox brothers, the owners, came up and shook my hand because I’ve known them ever since I’ve been in Kansas, and we had a chuckle about food safety inspections.
I saw that coach Patterson was at the table next to ours. We’d never met, but as a coach of young women, I thought she might find my story of interest so I went and introduced myself.
I told coach Patterson how I had five daughters, and that the first four had all played hockey, and the four-year-old was going to
start when I got back to Australia, and that I appreciated all she had done for women’s athletics at K-State.
One of the women at the table who played for K-State had also lived near Brisbane (that’s in Australia); she loved it and planned on going back.
Not everyone wants to live in Manhattan, Kansas, although I love it here. But my female hetero life partner wanted to do something different. So like all my five daughters, I supported her. Just like I’m supporting my daughters now. That takes balls, but it’s not a male thing; it’s a person thing. And girls are great hockey players.
If Kansas State wants to brag to the world about how excellent they are, don’t you want the best from the world, wherever they live, to support the females in their lives?