The Dapper Dad

I looked down at my watch after taking that first refreshing sip of my Manhattan on the rocks last Saturday and noticed the time – 5:46pm. Only fourteen minutes away from the beginning of the end, the last judgment, the apocalypse, the end of the world or something to that effect. I grinned. I had sort of pushed the silly notion to the back of my mind since today was my best friend’s wedding and frankly a little mumbo jumbo was not going to distract me from a rare day alone with my wife (aka no kid in tow), friends, fine food and beverages and if all went well a rare cigar or some Cavendish in a pipe to end the night perfectly. I was dressed, and please pardon the delusional benchmark, better than James Bond (even Sean Connery’s). I even tied my own bowtie (the three quarters of an hour it took made me feel that much more debonair). I was sitting high up amongst the gathering clouds (literally), wearing a simple, yet elegant tux and nursing my drink at the Mandarin Oriental in mid-town Manhattan. I was ready to give the Rapture the finger.

Heaven or Hell I figured it would be proper etiquette to show up black tie. I think both establishments are fairly conservative and I did not want any trouble with the bouncers, if anything to avoid the inevitable trek back up or down when I was turned away for not having on the proper attire. I pitied the poor schmuck who had just sauntered in wearing brown loafers with white socks and a black belt – Purgatory was a much worse destination since it was neither here nor there.

The storm clouds circled closer and obstructed the breath taking view of Central Park and the rain starting beating against the glass in front of us. Fine, so my last memory would be of clouds, so what? I was dressed to the nines, I was in great company, having a drink and smiling. A perfect way to go in my humble opinion.

Welcome to The Dapper Dad! A brief introduction is necessary as I gather my thoughts and gets things started. Many of you already know me as New York Dad over at my daddy blog New York Dad’s Blog. I know that over there I can talk about anything and everything dad related which probably could include much of what I want to talk about over here.

I felt, though, that a separate blog was appropriate since I will be concentrating much more on the dad as a man as opposed to the dad as a parent. All the ideas and thoughts I have concerning being a “Dapper Dad”, in fact, whether it is clothing, accessories, grooming, mixology, hobbies, sports, attitude or mannerisms in general will be left to these pages. Think of it as the den – a place for you to momentarily shut the door and remind yourself that you are a man – and most importantly a gentleman – as well as a father. A place, also, to unwind for a split second amidst all the burp up stains, the crushed Cheerios, the crazy hair, the unkept beard and all other forms of voluntary and involuntary submission to the parenting world that we have come to know since our first born was, well, born.

There are certainly many dads who just don’t care and I understand completely why they would think what I am doing here is useless. For those of you who do, though, feel that every once and a while you would like to feel like “a million bucks” I welcome you with a pat on the back and a stiff drink in hand. I certainly have my own strong opinions about what I feel constitutes a Dapper Dad and I certainly fail in many instances to live up to my own set of criteria due to my own negligence (and the ever present excuse of “I have a kid, you know!”).

I would like to see your comments and guest posts that will hopefully bring together different opinions, preferences and points of view for all of us to discuss, debate and question. I don’t really have a specific format in mind for these pages nor do I want to limit access to dads and men only. I do think, though, that there are certainly general parameters that define a Dapper Dad and despite the need for such a man to be as diplomatic as possible – I can make no guarantee that it will always be the case with me (I am, after all, a New Yorker).

Let me set as an ambitious objective that of providing a source of information for dads, in particular, that offers (from all different points of views and sources) suggestions, opinions and room for debate on issues that gravitate around what I have mentioned above and see where this takes us! Bear with me as I build up the page and also as I experiment using tumblr as an on-the-go and “improv” post source. My hope is that the posts will entertain and inform.

Thanks for taking the time to drop by and I look forward to engaging everyone in the conversation!

Sincerely,

The Dapper Dad