I affectionately refer to them as Mooch, Runt and Bones. No, they're not pets; they happen to be the other women in my life. They're the women my sons are either married to, engaged to or are seriously dating.

I have three terrific sons, Cory, Jason and Christopher, but have never had the privilege of having a daughter. After hearing some of the horror stories from friends and relatives that have daughters, sometimes I'm glad I didn't have a girl. But if I could have a daughter, I'd gladly choose any of these three to be my own.

Mooch came along first. Her real name is Casey and she's the wife of my son Cory and the mother of my two beautiful granddaughters, Ashley Elizabeth and Ava Emily.

Any sins that Mooch may have committed in her life have long since been washed away with the birth of my Ashley and Ava. Casey acquired the nickname Mooch because she never passed up a meal at my house. I even challenged her father and mother, Jerry and Debbie Patterson, for the right to claim her on my tax return one year.

Casey is a terrific first grade school teacher. Cory couldn't have chosen a finer woman to have in his life than this pretty brunette. So Mooch is welcome to break bread at my house anytime she wants, especially if she brings the two most important females in my life along, Ashley and Ava.

Runt is the woman that runs with Cory's twin brother, Jason, who now works for the Food and Drug Administration in Miami. The real name of this pretty blonde is Jessica Fides, and she's a senior at the University of Central Florida, where she is working on a double major in Molecular Microbiology and Forensic Biochemistry. She has applied to Medical School and has interned with the Volusia County Medical Examiners Office, checking out dead people and why they have gone to their greater reward.

Runt was diagnosed with scoliosis as teenager. They fitted her with a brace to correct the curvature of her spine. By the time the brace arrived, she had already grown out of the back brace. Since the brace never fit anyway, she had to have a spinal fusion where the surgeons inserted four "Harrington rods" into her spine to correct the problem. They also fused most of her vertebrae with bones shaved off of her pelvis, which acted as a form of a binder to fuse her spine. The day she had the surgery, she actually grew two inches. All of this makes my skin crawl just writing about it.

Prior to the surgery she was a National Champion in Modern Dance. After the surgery, in an effort to get stronger, she pursued weightlifting where she met Jason, also an Olympic style weightlifter. Both pursued the dream of making the Olympic team and were students at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan where they train the Olympic athletes. Runt has made several International Weightlifting teams, journeying to faraway places like Peru and Mexico. She also competed in both the 2004 and 2008 Olympic trials, finishing right behind the eventual Olympian in her weight class, 116 pounds, which is why I call her Runt. She might be a Runt in size, but she still out lifts yours truly and most males in her weight group.

Talking about turning your lemons into lemonade! That's a pretty fair description of the determination of this young woman. I'd be proud to have her as a daughter or a daughter-in-law as I draw great inspiration from what she has achieved in life. She and Jason will marry next May.

And then there's Bones, the moniker I've assigned to the girlfriend of my youngest son, Christopher, a nurse by profession, who we affectionately have nicknamed "Gutt" for obvious reasons. Viviana LoPresti is a seventh grade school teacher who whose discipline is business and computers.

Her passion however, is baking cakes. Nobody bakes a tastier, more beautiful and decorative cake. I call her Bones because she's nothing but long black hair, skin and bones. But like Mooch, she's never missed a meal at my house mainly because Gutt is the chief cook and King of the Grill, when not on duty as a Registered Nurse in the Emergency Room.

When my high school football coach first met my wife Christine, he said to me, "Son, you've outrun your punt coverage." I can safely say that to all three of my sons. You won't find three finer women than Mooch, Runt and Bones. I'm glad to have them in my life.