Brian Rutter is a Westport marketing executive. As a side gig, he blogs about all things suburban-dad-related on The Burbman. Topics range from divorce and deer collisions to bat mitzvahs and parents’ gossip on the sports sidelines.
As a side gig to that, in March he wrote a poignant story for the Washington Post. His daughter Samantha — a 2012 Staples alum — had just 107 days until she’d graduate from Muhlenberg College.
The number 107 was significant. That’s the number of days that — as an infant — she spent in the neonatal intensive care unit. His piece relived those harrowing days and nights in the hospital.
The Rutter family today.
Today — joyfully — Rutter concluded:
In 107 days, she will graduate from college, and we will watch our 21-year old daughter walk across the stage, clutching her diploma and beginning the next stage of this remarkable life. Over 9 million seconds and 154,000 minutes from now. With no limitations, only the expectations she has for herself.
Four years of liberal arts learning about the world and herself will have led to the first of many milestone moments. The strength incubated in those 107 days in that NICU isolette has prepared her for new chapters, new worlds.
But this time, as we watch those 107 days fade into the past, and we prepare for that final ride from campus to home, she will be in the driver’s seat. The open road within her sight and the infinite expanse of the universe awaiting the next 107 days, months and hopefully years of her life.
The camera crew, inside the Rutters’ house.
That story caught the eye of a “Today Show” producer.
So this Friday (June 17), Rutter will be one of 3 “featured dads” for their Father’s Day segment.
The other day, a camera crew descended on Rutter’s home. He and Samantha were interviewed; so was his wife Jane, and Staples freshman daughter Kate.
On the show, he’ll talk about what defines him as a dad — his happiest and funniest moments, that sort of thing. He calls himself “the representative of middle-aged dads with teenagers and older children.”
The segment is still being edited. As with all things TV-related, Rutter has no idea how it will turn out.
But whatever happens, he’ll have a story to tell on the sidelines of his daughter’s next game.
Brian Rutter, on camera.
