Survival Instincts and Women

I once heard a Jeff Foxworthy joke, "What's the last thing a redneck says before he dies? Hey Y'all, watch this!" Funny, often true and very intuitive. I'm pretty sure this joke applies to most men, only the accent changes. Men die younger than women, have a higher mortality rate due to stressed out lives and accidents from dangerous activities and being just plain stupid sometimes. Women, as my daughters have taught me, are survivalists.

I recall, as a child, being distraught that I wouldn't live long enough to see interstellar travel. More than anything, I wanted to boldly go... oh you get the picture. So when watching a shuttle launch, years ago, I was shocked at the response from my oldest daughters when I asked them if they were going to be astronauts. "No way Dad, it's dangerous! You know there's no air up there!" was the 9 years old response. "And no one can come get you if you breakdown!" the 6 year old added. Apparently they had just seen the Apollo 13 movie. Likewise, when I asked my third child at age 8 if she'd like to take soccer lessons, she politely said, "No, you get kicked and dirty, I'm more the mall and makeup kind of girl dad." Camping for all daughters included cabins with hot-tubs and a view. If we tented it, as I insisted, it had to be near a town with shopping potential, flushing toilets and nice restaurants. Dad had to sleep near the tent entrance.

There was one macho move by my oldest when she was about 12 years old. Her 10 year old cousin was bragging about his deer hunting skills which really annoyed my daughter. Our family had hunted for generations. I had abandoned it shortly after discovering wine and women.She immediately pulled me aside to demand that I take her hunting so that she could kill a deer and one up the cousin. I asked if she could actually kill an animal. She stiffened up and said she could. I could see her nerve failing beneath her toughened stance. OK but they have big brown eyes that look just like Alex's you know. Alex was our terrier. You can shoot an animal with eyes like that? She thought for a second and said no, she couldn't do that. We were both relived. OI gave her a hug and she went off to play. You can't do that with sons. Kind of like the all daughters thing.