October 6, 2007 – Poor Kid

No less than 5 people over the last few months have told me how my newest nephew Silas “looks exactly like you when you were a baby.” Not remembering what I looked like that many dozen years ago (and apparently not having taken note of pictures I’ve been shown over the years) I couldn’t really speak to whether it was true or not. Honest to goodness, I love the kid to pieces, so I was really holding out hope for him. The second time I was told this, just to be on the safe side, I told him straight up, whatever the case, to make sure when he grows up to act like his Dad, not his Uncle Tim.


Tonight, though, I was looking through some old pictures of my Dad when he was in the Air Force and shortly thereafter when he had this amazingly long beard, and then others when he was the “great white hunter” carrying the .357 I’ve coveted for so many years. I went through pictures of Mom around the time she and Dad got married, when she was going through her long hair 60s phase when she was stylin’ like a true-to-life hipster. Mom and Dad were pretty hip in their younger days. Then more of her from shortly after I was born.

I looked through picture of Tony when he was a trendy teen, and when he was famous for being the child prodigy who had three albums out by the time he was 12. And pictures of Tammy when she was singing in concerts with him, and playing with Josh, and finding herself as a freshman in college (excuse me, freshperson).

Then there were the great pictures of Josh growing up. And the pictures of relationships years and years past, that shall not be named. And of me at 105 pounds diving head first into a successful Air Force career. And yes, pictures of me when I was Silas’s age.


As it turns out, the poor kid does look like me when I was a baby. Now don’t get me wrong, I had a few years there where I was pretty daggone good looking. I’m not bragging, I’m just being honest. For a good many years I got a lot of attention from the ladies. But it’s the awkward years I’m concerned about. The kid’s got a pretty heavy burden to carry for quite a few years of his life if the trend continues.

It could be worse, though. This is his Dad.

If you're mad, Tony, I'll take it down.