When I found out my oldest son was about to become a father, I was certain he was going to have a little boy. I began to wax nostalgic thinking about J as a baby, how much he was like his father (which has only increased with the passing years) so I wrote a book called 'Just Like My Dad' for him to read to his little boy (who turned out to be an adorable little girl!) which in essence said, "Look! Your daddy is just like his dad." And the little boy decides he wants to be just like his dad, too.

I never thought of myself as much like my father, but recently I've discovered that I'm much more like him than I would ever have imagined.

Whenever I asked my dad how old he was he always replied, "I'm as old as my tongue, and a little bit older than my teeth." His answer never varied and I could never persuade him to reveal his age to me. I had to find out his birth date and figure it out on my own. My dad had a sense of the absurd about him that peaked out every once in awhile. I think he liked to surprise people. He would sometimes come home and ask, "Anybody want to go for a ride?" but refuse to tell us where we were going - we always had to 'wait and see'. It made the most ordinary of days a fun and exciting adventure.

Not long ago my daughter gave me a memory book filled with pictures of the two of us. It makes me cry every time I read it. In the back there was a list of her favorite memories. They included one of me jumping in our pool every year fully clothed. (A tradition I treasured for the shock value!) I'm like my dad in wanting to surprise people - 'hey, you think you know me, but have you seen this side of me?"

I'm mostly quiet, but I have my dad's quirky sense of humor. I remember at one family party he danced on top of a table with a full glass on his head. I'll refrain from telling any stories about my party days!

I'm stubborn like my dad, too. When he and my mom were newly married they were at a party (we evidently like parties in my family!) My mom appeared to be taking too long in the ladies room 'fixing her hair'. They squabbled. Okay, they had an old-fashioned, rip-roarin' fight and my mother declared she would never 'fix' her hair again (and didn't!) and my dad said, 'Fine! Then I'll grow a mustache.' (Which my mother hated.) He kept it until he got sick forty-some years later and had to shave it off so the oxygen tubes would stay in his nose.

While I never aspired to be like him, I'm glad that there is much that I have inherited from my dad. Good and bad.

I don't know what kind of relationship you have with your father, or if you have any relationship at all, but I do know that you can have a most extraordinary relationship with your Heavenly Father. And you can be like Him! You can say with the psalmist, "I will be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness." (Ps 17:15)

All for Him,

Missy

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