Mark Elswick, aka "Padman," has overcome the hurdles of fatherhood and lived to create around them in this humorous collection of quick stories primarily based on his personal experiences as a man dealing with girls, in particular his daughter. Irrespective of whether it really is obtaining to check out the shop to purchase these...um, feminine hygiene goods for his daughter, worrying over the older man his daughter desires to date, or just accepting that he's reached middle-age and is being an old man, readers will smile with familiarity at the incidents, sympathizing with Elswick's feelings and admiring his pluck to maintain going in the face of what frequently threatens his manhood or at least his masculine self-esteem.
Nor is Elswick above poking enjoyable at himself. Whilst he might be amazed and stunned by the issues the females about him do, he in the end laughs at his personal reactions to events and the expectations females have of him. While he tries to outsmart females such as by "multi-tasking" (watching the game Though altering his daughter's diaper), his efforts have a tendency to backfire, in the end to his and the reader's amusement.
Just to supply a taste of Elswick's humor, right here is a passage from the story "A Shoestring?":
"As I began to shut the dryer door, I decided to do one thing I want I in no way would have completed. I double-checked the dryer to make positive I did not miss some thing.
"Certain sufficient, there was anything-a shoestring. Why did she wash a shoestring? I rolled my eyes in standard disbelief. I reached my hand in to pull it out, hoping it hadn't somehow wound itself inside the machine and broken some thing. I just knew it had triggered harm to my dryer. Fortunately, as I grabbed onto the black string, it wasn't wound into a mess and pulled appropriate out. Relieved and feeling my anger exhale, I lifted the....
"At that point, I stopped exhaling and even stopped breathing. What I grasped in my appropriate hand was what I had believed was a string. Now, I promptly realized it was no string at all. As I brought what I believed belonged in my daughter's shoe to eye level, I felt it was practically the worst Dad Moment in my parenting life. I may have screamed Though I realized this "string" by no means resembled what I had initially believed.
"That little piece of string created me feel as nauseated as Even though I had found what With Wings meant.
"That shoestring was...one particular of my fourteen-year-old daughter's thongs.
"As I had discovered in my Padman adventure, there are sure factors we men in no way wish to run across in life. This one particular ranked ideal up there with catching your parents obtaining sex."
As if getting to deal with a teenage daughter increasing up have been not adequate, Elswick has had to overcome some other pretty really serious hurdles in his life. Although the bulk of "Padman" is composed of humorous stories, sprinkled all through are a couple of pretty severe stories and essays. The most dramatic story is that of Elswick himself, who survived a bizarre vehicle accident that left him with a traumatic brain incident (TBI) injury. The physicians told Elswick's parents that he was unlikely to live, and if he did, he would be a vegetable for the rest of his life. Against all odds, Elswick not only survived but has gone on to live a fairly regular life, Though his TBI continues to impact him.
Elswick does not dwell at excellent length or with negativity on his trials, but he does wish this book to raise awareness of TBI and appreciation for how valuable life is. He offers several laughs in those pages with a small education tossed in for good measure. Elswick is at present operating on a longer book around TBI to be released in 2012. In the meantime, partial proceeds from the sale of "Padman" are becoming donated to TBI analysis.
Tyler R. Tichelaar holds a Bachelor's and Master's Degree from Northern Michigan University and a Ph.D. from Western Michigan University. His family's long partnership with Upper Michigan and his avid interest in genealogy inspired Dr. Tichelaar to create his Marquette Trilogy: Iron Pioneers, The Queen City, and Great Heritage. Dr. Tichelaar is also a specialist book reviewer and editor. For far more data around Tyler R. Tichelaar, his writing, and his author solutions, check out:
www.MarquetteFiction.com
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