The Dad Story Project
If you’re a dad (old or young), have a dad, are married to a dad, or just know a dad, then this is a place to find a few minutes of rest, encouragement, and cheer. This isn’t some “how-to” podcast, filled with bullet points and check boxes—these are just simple stories about growing up. And we all know how profound and powerful a good story can be.The Dad Story Project podcast is based on two simple themes: that we find the greatest fulfillment in the ordinary things of every day, and that the currency of childhood is time: they don't want our money or our stuff, they just want to be with us. Based on storyteller Peter Lewis's 11-year, award-winning newspaper column, these simple, quiet, 7- to 10-minute stories are filled with heartwarming encouragement, poignant life lessons, and cheer. Lewis looks back to his own growing up, and ahead to the childhoods of his son, daughter, and now granddaughters, and pulls out moving vignettes from ordinary life. Introspective, tender, charming and sometimes hysterical, these stories are sure to make you smile. The goal is simple: to encourage fathers, one heart at a time.
Episodes
20 episodes
TDSP 3-1: A Tale of Two Turtles
A story of daring reptilian adventure as our family's collective obsession with snakes, turtles, and their related ilk, lead to late nights on the lake, squealing tires, crates reinforced with steel, chewed golf clubs, and nearly-amputated toes...
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Season 3
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Episode 1
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7:03
TDSP 2-6: And the Dock Glides Out to Meet Us
On two otherwise ordinary rainy days nearly five decades apart, a father and son travel up a cold northern lake in an old boat. On the first trip, the man is strong and determined while his boy is small and chilled and a bit scared. On the seco...
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Season 2
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Episode 6
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10:04
TDSP 2-5: The Crash of '97
This is a cautionary tale about two young boys who decide to take the technology of the day and modify it in order to do something utterly stupid. In fact, the activities in this story were so ill-conceived and idiotic that no disclaimer is war...
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Season 2
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Episode 5
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9:27
TDSP 2-4: The Shooting of Rusty, 1, 2, 3
An innocent foray into raising chickens leads our family down a sinister path as our rooster slowly goes insane. Danger lurks around every corner until we no longer bear it and drastic measures must be taken. And while things end with a bang (s...
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Season 2
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Episode 4
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11:22
TDSP 2-3: Gaining Perspective Among the Bluets
Many years ago on a beautiful spring day, I stopped on my way home from work to take a walk and shrug off the worries of the moment. I found myself in the company of a man I never met, and with no words spoken between us, he forever changed the...
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Season 2
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Episode 3
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8:22
TDSP 2-02: Goodnight Upside Down
A middle-aged man gets a birthday phone call from his father, and the two of them are transported back in time to relive a precious family tradition.Music: https://www.purple-planet.com
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Season 2
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Episode 2
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7:22
TDSP 2-01: A Hug is Worth a Thousand Words
To embrace another person is one of the things that defines our humanity and connects us to each other, both literally and emotionally. And a world full of full-contact hugs would be a wonderful place (as long as respect and social context boun...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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7:40
Storing Up Treasures
A Christmas parable of sorts, this is the true story of a few frustrating minutes on a cold December day in Maine as a man stares out the window of an old farmhouse and worries about the apparent contradictions of the season. But as he frets ov...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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8:51
TDSP 10: The River Always Flows Away
At the edge of a river deep in the forest, a father and son find the past and the present fused together for a few precious moments. A poignant story of a canoe trip, lost trains, blackberry brambles, a distant memory, and the ever-onward...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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12:21
TDSP 9: Sophie's Leap
This is the tender story of a little girl and her grandfather and how a few minutes on a summer day changed their lives forever. It's a reminder for us all to be on the alert for those simple everyday moments when a bit of encouragement and che...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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14:27
TDSP 8: How Not to Hang a Ladder
A chance encounter with a low-hanging ladder during a search for a dry-erase board help a father remember how wonderful it is to have a son.
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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7:36
TDSP 7: If We Could Choose Forever Now
Time is a strange thing. We experience it in a strictly linear fashion, one moment following the next into the future. But with the wonder of memory, we can make time stand still, or even rewind a segment of the distant past. And, looking back ...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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8:36
TDSP 6: It's Never Too Late for a First Date
A middle-aged man with a thin (okay, nonexistent) dating track record finally screws up the courage to ask a beautiful young girl out on a date, and it goes perfectly.
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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6:58
TDSP 5: A Barn, Two Boats, and a Boy
Ordinary days. We all have them. In fact, most of our days would be classified this way. Yet this story of a father and son and a day spent together doing a simple chore, shows that if we look hard enough, and if we dads try har...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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7:18
Grand Opening Announcement
Hello everyone! I'm turning 11 years worth of heartwarming family newspaper columns into a new podcast, and I need your help. The Dad Story Project (TDSP) podcast is available now on
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0:59
TDSP 2: Barn Boots
How a pair of boots, a lawnmower, and a tired dad turned a little girl's dream into a reality.
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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7:13
Trailer for The Dad Story Project podcast series
The short story of how these stories came to be.
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Season 1
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6:25
TDSP 3: I See My Father Running
A freak childhood accident leads to the heartwarming memory of something never seen.
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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7:43
TDSP 4: My Grandmother's Hands
Reaching under the eves in the dark attic of his family home, a man was instantly transported back to a magical few moments with his grandmother; those few moments changed his life forever.
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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9:27
TDSP 1: Just Being There
It is often assumed that being a good dad means doing big, bold, ambitious things for your children, giving them expensive gifts or taking them on grand vacations, but the reality is that sometimes the best parenting moments occur when you just...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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6:35