She asked her Daddy for a hug and a kiss For she was off with a man in a van Educated, working, enriched with skill She knew her life’s pattern; her ethics were set He wept as he held her and gave her a kiss Said only he’d rather she not go like this With a man in a van to search for a home To look for the best little farm in the land So she left with a plan, lots of hope and a man Sat beside him gazing at houses and land For six months they traveled, checked prices and work Then settled in the hills of mid Tennessee She invited her father to see how she’d done He came to the cornrows, tobacco, and cows And walked in the forest that heated her home He sat by her fire and said it was good Seven years later she came groveling home The farm a success, the house they’d built cozy But her man found another and left her alone Now she came groping, her plan gone amok Her father forgave her, took her back in Now SHE cried when he hugged her and kissed Still young and healthy, in search of a plan Now she will ask him about each new man