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A Marine dad had a tea party with his daughter, and people are loving it.

A Marine dad had a tea party with his daughter, and people are loving it.

By any measure, Keven Porter is a good dad.

He makes a living as a U.S. Marine Corps drill instructor, where he trains new enlistees in the art of serving our country. When he's not scaring the daylights out of fresh recruits, he's a loving husband to wife Lizette and father to 4-year-old daughter Ashley.

Unfortunately, with such a demanding job, Porter doesn't get quite as much time to just be a dad as he'd like. So Lizette took matters into her own hands and set up a special daddy-daughter photo shoot for the two of them that would give them a chance to make some memories together.

Lizette and Ashley had a sneaky plan, though. This was no ordinary father-daughter photo shoot.

Porter arrived dressed in his uniform, but he quickly realized he wasn't the only one who had dressed for the occasion.

When he showed up at the shoot in Oceanside, California, he found Ashley in full princess attire, sitting at a small table set for royal tea.

All photos by Kyndal Rose Photography, used with permission.

That's right. This Marine had been ambushed with a fairy-tale tea party.

He never saw it coming. But hey, duty calls, right?

Porter was caught a little off-guard and hesitant at first, but Ashley's excitement was plenty to persuade him to go for it.

While we think of military men as gruff, tough, and fearless warriors, Lizette told ABC News she hoped the photo shoot would show the world that "a lot of them have a completely different side to them."

The photos of Porter joining Ashley's tea party with love and enthusiasm have made waves around the internet.

The photos are incredibly moving and touching; the contrast between soldier and princess, father and daughter, and the powerful bond they share sparked thousands to share the series of photos that photographer Kyndal Rose shared on Facebook.

Fatherhood can be a great equalizer that tears down outdated ideas of what masculinity should be.

There's no measure of a "real man" that matters more than how he treats the people he loves — not his physical prowess, and not how fast he can assemble a rifle.

Kudos to Keven Porter for proudly sharing his softer side, and for his service to our country. The world could use more fathers like him.

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A controversial post about couples splitting travel costs has folks debating love and money

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

It all started with an AITA ("Am I the Asshole?" for the uninitiated) on Reddit, in which a man explained how he and his rich family went on a ritzy vacation and invited his girlfriend along, expecting her to pay her share of it. He comes from a moneyed family and makes $150,000 a year. She's a teacher, making $45,000. She took a second job to be able to afford to go on the trip, but still had to duck out of some outings and meals because they were too pricey for her budget.

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But the post did prompt a lot of interesting conversation about what is actually reasonable to expect financially in a relationship between two people who make drastically different incomes.

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A controversial post about couples splitting travel costs has folks debating love and money

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

It all started with an AITA ("Am I the Asshole?" for the uninitiated) on Reddit, in which a man explained how he and his rich family went on a ritzy vacation and invited his girlfriend along, expecting her to pay her share of it. He comes from a moneyed family and makes $150,000 a year. She's a teacher, making $45,000. She took a second job to be able to afford to go on the trip, but still had to duck out of some outings and meals because they were too pricey for her budget.

The man wanted to know if he was the a-hole because he was disappointed that she didn't just tell him she was struggling with the cost. As if it weren't obvious, and he couldn't have offered to cover what she couldn't. The whole story was wild, and his responses to people's comments were even wilder (as he came to the realization that he "deserved more" than her) so yeah, he was most definitely the a-hole in the situation.

But the post did prompt a lot of interesting conversation about what is actually reasonable to expect financially in a relationship between two people who make drastically different incomes.

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The Elevate Prize
The Elevate Prize
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Want to be the change? Join an Elevate Giving Circle.

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If you've ever donated to a cause but worried that your contribution wasn't really enough to drive real change, you're not alone. As one person, it can be tough to feel like you're making a real difference, especially if you don't have a lot to donate or if times are tough (aka there's a worldwide pandemic going on.)

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In other words, giving circles are a way to democratize philanthropy, making it more accessible regardless of your age, income, gender, or race.

That's why this year, The Elevate Prize, a nonprofit founded in 2019, is launching a new pop-up "Giving Circle" program so that problem solvers, budding philanthropists, and anyone that wants to do good can come together and drive real impact at a large scale. And you can do it all in just 90 minutes.

All you have to do is join one of the Elevate Giving Circles online. Learn about organizations doing good for the world, then pool your money together, and as a group, direct it where you think that donation could make the most difference.

But that's not all: every single donation made is matched by the Elevate Prize Foundation — basically guaranteeing that you double your impact for good. The theme for the first cycle is education, and Elevate Giving will match up to $75,000 in total donations for each cycle.

Ready to get involved? Elevate Giving experiences start June 26th, so sign up now for your spot to make a difference. There's no minimum fee to join either — so get involved no matter what you have to give. Now that's philanthropy for all.

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