This is Luke

He's gorgeous. I mean, he is so so so gorgeous.

Luke is my newest roommate. He is number seventy.

I thought I was done having roommates but then I lost my job so it was back to placing my ad on Craigslist. I had gone down from two mattresses in my living room to one and was so excited to finally go to none after eight years.

Oh well.

Now, I am back up to two. But, how lucky am I that Craigslist exists and that I find cool people to help me pay my mortgage? Also, Luke and my other current roommate are great so there is a really fun vibe in my apartment; that makes it a lot less painful.

Luke responded to my ad and said he needed a place for August starting immediately. I was pretty desperate to fill the spot and since it was only for a month, I quickly looked at his Facebook, saw that he looked cool and told him to call me. We chatted briefly and he seemed like he had good energy so I was like, "Sure, you can move in tonight."

And that was that.

After eight years, as I told Ms. American University, I know what I am doing. I have a 100% accuracy rate so far on reading my roommates. This is not to say that I have a 100% success rate with them. But, it was only because I didn't listen to my gut which gave me two bad experiences. Roommate Number 17? Ooof. But... you have to read my book for that story.

Side note: ALWAYS listen to your gut.

Now that Luke lives with me I spend a lot of time staring at him. And he spends a lot of time staring at himself. And it is really funny and we laugh about it.

He wants to be a model which, given his face, is totally realistic. The other night he was alternating between doing push up and practicing poses in the living room mirror. I was like, "Luke, you are soooo gorgeous." And he was like, "I know!" But the thing is, he isn't arrogant or conceited about it. It is just a fact. And he is aware of that fact and he owns it. I like that.

Humility is good and all, but self awareness and confidence are more fun. And, since I am very aesthetically sensitive and also have kind of a tourettes for compliments, it is really nice that I can basically tell him I love his face non-stop and he just agrees rather than feels weird about it.

But, this post isn't really even about Luke or his gorgeous face. It is about a Facebook post lovefest. And lovefests are my favorite.

So, the other day Luke and I did a photo shoot so he can start building a portfolio and I posted my favorites on Facebook.

Here is the Facebook post:

We thought a bunch of his friends and my friends would like it and that would be it. But something way better than likes happened.

We did get some "Yeah, he is so good looking" comments but then his dad commented:

I've taken pictures of Luke since he was less than one hour old so it's very interesting to see him through someone else's creative eye and lens. [Do] these expressions that I am less familiar with show new sides of this evolving young man that I am proud to call my son or are they perhaps testament to his success in cultivating some skill in acting as he contemplates a side career in modeling? ...while the Luke that I know and love is conscious of his physical attributes, he also has ambitious dreams of sharing his huge heart, working very hard, and applying his imagination and numerous passions to create a wonderful life for himself and many many other people.

How lovely of his dad to post such a heartfelt comment on my post, right?

Well, that was just the beginning. Then, this lovely LOVELY lady who is a friend of my mom's and a complete stranger to Luke's dad commented:

With such an expressive and supportive Dad, your son without a doubt will further along your support and encouragement in his own dealings and I wish him continued steps forward, aiming high AND many successes on any opportunities that he chooses. And applause to you Dad - too few men are willing to share their heartfelt emotions. Dad, you have succeeded being a VERY WONDERFUL DAD.

And then my neighbor, also a stranger to Luke's dad, weighed in:

Dear [Luke's Dad], thank you, but you should have had at least 20 sons. The world would be a better place.

Then Luke:

Thank you very much for your words of support dad!!! It feels very nice to feel appreciated for trying to express myself in a way that is new, exciting, and unfamiliar.

Luke's dad jumped back in. Remember, this is on FACEBOOK.

I am humbled by expressions of appreciations just for being a dad. I certainly accept that openly expressing feelings does not come easily for many men, but we all try our best in our own way. I highly recommend that men get to together with other men to talk about life in real ways to support this process. I've been in 3 stable groups in my life - the most recent one has been going for 15 years - it has provided a unique and safe forum to share ups and downs of relationships with our wives, children, parents, ourselves and others. The biggest factor to being a good dad for me is to having a loving, supportive wife since sharing this journey called parenthood is one of life's deepest challenges. In the beginning one has to focus intently on providing everything for a helpless being, then learn the fine art of building that young person's confidence to take on more and more challenges of the world on their own. At first you are always there as a safety net and then gradually have to even withdraw that knowing that sometimes they are going to have to hit the ground themselves to learn their own tolerance for risk and reward. One hopes they will always get up and try again. As long as I see Luke's genuine smile, I will know that his spirit is strong.

*SWOON*

What a great example of a father and a man, right?

I think my writers like me because I am real. Well, here is a real dose of real and I just love it.

Thank you Luke's dad!

xo

[Update: These photos launched Luke's modeling career! He got noticed on Instagram, signed with an agency and is now living the dream in Bangkok as a professional model!! When he lived with me he had around 600 followers. Today (2/5/18) he has 63.5k!!! Way to go Luke!]

---

If you like this post, please share it, like it, subscribe, comment on it and follow me on Facebook and Instagram!