The Early Struggles Of A Girl Dad...

The pool in Independence was quite good, especially for a community of its size, and presents a great deal for season passes to local residents.

Who is a little girl's first crush? Often, the answer is the girl's father. That was the case with my beautiful daughter, Ivy. She was infatuated with her daddy and as a little girl frequently inquired about potential future wedlock. Marriage is a tricky topic to get a youngster to understand, especially when trying to break it to her that nuptials with her strapping and handsome father weren't allowed while her adoring eyes gaze up. It makes a dad's heart melt...

Then… one day… you take your kid to swimming lessons for the first time. She meets her teenage male instructor, and almost instantly, another guy begins to mount a challenge to your once rock-solid spot as the unequivocal "crush." With each and every swim lesson, that little punk unknowingly manages to pull a bit closer to overthrowing you… Your daughter is smitten. Your daughter talks about him with great admiration.

The whole family decides to go swimming during regular pool hours, and it all smacks you in the face. Your daughter pleads to go to the concession stand alone for the very first time in her life, and you see the swim instructor peddling sugary snacks. She even brought along her own money...

Next, the daughter has to go try to cross the floaty bridge thingy immediately, a pool implement that she has openly admitted multiple times frightens her. Who's covering that part of the pool… the swim instructor.

Now the zero-entry area is the only place she wants to swim… well, guess who's there? Yeah... you get the picture.

Cue sad music and a close-up of a father struggling with a heartbreaking realization. Handsome Swimboy is now the crush, and you are just some doof... an aging but once genuinely remarkable and uniquely handsome doof...

Well… at least this guy is teaching your little girl how to swim and be safe in the water, and for that, you are not going to pull his arms out of the sockets and beat him with them. You suppose you will save that for the first guy who pulls up in his sports car blaring Whitesnake and approaches the door with the illusion your daughter is going somewhere with him... She is going to love you for it, too... right?

I suppose being a "girl dad" will become increasingly difficult...