Mark Elswick, aka “Padman,” overcame the hurdles of fatherhood and lived to write about them in this playful collection of short stories based on his own experiences as a man dealing with women, especially his daughter. Whether it’s having to go to the store to buy those…um, feminine hygiene products for your daughter, worrying about the older man your daughter wants to date, or simply accepting that you’ve reached middle age and are becoming an old man, readers will smile familiarly at the incidents, sympathizing with Elswick’s sentiments and admiring his courage to press on in the face of what often threatens his masculinity or at least his masculine self-esteem.

Elswick is also not above making fun of himself. While he may be amazed and stunned by the things the women around him do, he eventually laughs at his own reactions to the events and the expectations women have of him. When he tries to outsmart women, for example by “multitasking” (watching the game while he changes his daughter’s diaper), his efforts tend to backfire, ultimately to his amusement. and that of the reader.

Just to give you a taste of Elswick’s mood, here’s an excerpt from the story “On a Budget?”:

“When I started to close the dryer door, I decided to do something I wish I had never done. I double checked the dryer to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

“Sure enough, there was something: a shoelace. Why did you wash a shoelace?” I rolled my eyes in typical disbelief. something..I just knew it had caused damage to my dryer.Fortunately, when I grabbed the black thread, it didn’t get tangled up in a mess and I pulled it out.Relieved and feeling my anger exhale, I lifted the…

“At that moment, I stopped exhaling and even stopped breathing. What I grabbed with my right hand was what I thought was a rope. Now, I quickly realized that it wasn’t any rope. As I brought what I thought belonged to my daughter’s shoe at eye level, I felt that it was almost the worst moment of dad in my life as a father.

“That tiny piece of string made me feel as nauseated as when I found out what With Wings meant.

“That cord was… one of my fourteen-year-old daughter’s straps.

“As I learned on my Padman adventure, there are certain things we men never want to encounter in life. This one is right up there with catching your parents having sex.”

As if dealing with a growing teenage daughter wasn’t enough, Elswick has had to overcome other very serious obstacles in her life. While most of “Padman” is made up of humorous stories, there are some pretty serious stories and essays. The most dramatic story is that of Elswick himself, who survived a freak car accident that left him with a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Doctors told Elswick’s parents that it was unlikely that he would live and that if he did, he would be a vegetable for the rest of his life. Against all odds, Elswick not only survived, but has led a relatively normal life, although his TBI continues to affect him.

Elswick doesn’t dwell too long or with negativity on his evidence, but he does want this book to raise awareness of TBI and an appreciation of how precious life is. She provides plenty of laughs in these pages with a little education thrown in for good measure. Elswick is currently working on a longer book on TBI to be published in 2012. In the meantime, partial proceeds from the sale of “Padman” will be donated to TBI research.