Like Father, Like Son

Not too long ago my dad was sitting on a stool, drinking soup on the kitchen counter when he saw that I was staring at him. He looked at me and asked what I was staring at. I had no idea I was staring at him, but I was while I was drinking a glass of water by the refrigerator. Maybe I'd rather look around me while drinking from a glass than staring straight into it. Anyway, I often find myself staring at my dad, it has occurred to me, because I can't believe how much like him I am. His mannerisms are sometimes identical to mine, including the way he sleeps on the living room couch, stands against the wall, and leans on a chair.

And the thing is that I never really noticed, but there comes a time when we all must face the fact that we are an extension or continuation of our parents. And it's funny to see that for certain small things, it all comes back to my dad.

When I was younger everyone would say how much I looked like my dad, and it kind of annoyed me. It's not that I thought my dad was hideous and needed an urgent face transplant, not at all, it's just that I wanted to be different. I didn't want to be the little kid that was a spitting image of his dad. My uncles would call me photocopy. They'd say, 'Photocopy, come over here! You know why we call you photocopy? Because someone took a copy of your dad and you came out.' And they'd all break out in laughter, whiskeys in hand. I just smiled, were they laughing at me or with me? There was no denying though, that I looked like my dad, ears and all.

But now that I'm older, and that I've gotten older, I'm so proud of being my father's son. It's strange because he and I have a relationship where we don't need to tell each other how much we care about each other because we just know. Of course, I always take my mom's side of things when they argue, but it doesn't mean I don't respect him. Anyway, if I am a photocopy, a spitting image, my father's son, then I think a great deal of understanding myself can come from just observing my dad.