It's a hugely special and propitious moment, widely celebrated in the heavens, if we believe in such places, when a heterosexual woman finds herself in a position to say to a man, perhaps on an early dinner date, "Oh, I like my father very much. We've got a close and supportive friendship. He's sweet and has always been there for me. " Though we might point to similar advantages in the case of other genders and orientations, this constellation can be worthy of its own particular consideration.
Not least, because what's at stake isn't just a woman's bond with the father himself, but with men right across her emotional life.
A woman wouldn't, through such a statement, simply be saying that she got on with her dad.
She'd be hinting at an above average chance of succeeding at the challenges of adult love.
A good father may not be able to spare his daughter every kind of suffering.
He will offer her some of the following bounty, nevertheless.
He will set a baseline for acceptable treatment.
He'll define, in his daughter's mind, what a good man can and should be.
He will equate normality with kindness.
Later on, when this woman meets a sweet-hearted, welcoming, sane suitor, she won't hold any of his goodness against him.
