#52 Stories--Story # 34

What are some ways you and your father are inherently alike--physical traits, temperament, personality, talents, interests? 

I'm not sure we have many physical characteristics that are similar. We both squint when we smile--and that goes deep through the family. We both have dark hair naturally.  Mine has gotten darker as I got older and his is finally turning a silver gray now that he's over seventy. Bu that is probably the extent of the physical similarities.

As far as other traits we have a lot more in common.  We have a similar sense of humor to one another.  I remember many many nights sitting at the dinner table laughing over something we saw on Saturday Night Live or a movie we enjoyed and could get to laughing so hard that you couldn't understand any thing we were saying--but we knew what the other one meant in all that.  I felt bad for my mom because she never seemed to be in on the joke.  But she laughed with us---probably because we were so silly as we laughed ourselves hoarse. We find a lot of the same kind of things funny--Far Side, Roadrunner & Coyote--all the Looney Toones, really--cartoons, SNL sketches from the 80s, ridiculous movies--could make us laugh and laugh until my face hurt.

My dad's temperament has mellowed with age I think but I know that I have a similar temperament so far as patience goes as he did when we were growing up.  I hope I can mellow about it all someday too. Unruly little children used to make him crazy, and I find my teeth on edge over similar situations. Maybe this one has less to do with his temperament than with how unruly some kids are.

He is pretty self-deprecating--and I find myself doing that more and more too. I know some of his comes from the idea that he never thought himself very book smart--thus he always wanted us to do well in school and a university education was expected of me and my sister. I find I am more self-deprecating for the joke of it.  I can make fun of myself easily and prefer that to making others feel less than for the sake of a joke.

My dad has incredible mechanical talent.  He just seems to understand how things go together and how they work.  I remember watching him when he was disassembling or reassembling motor parts and wondering how he knew to do that just that way. I know it is partly because he has been doing it for a long time, but also because his mind understands and comprehends how things go together and why they work. I wish I was better about this particular talent, but I'm still quite a newb about most things mechanically.

Dad also has an amazing memory for specifics.  he might not remember someone's name from Walla Walla or Burbank, or the Sunnyvale days, but he'll recall the vehicle that person drove and little things about the cars. But that is what he enjoys and it's always easier to recall those kind of things when you enjoy them that much.

I know he doesn't think he is very knowledgeable about the Gospel, but I always knew he felt things  that were true.  We do have similar reactions to feeling the Spirit. We both tend to get a little emotional when tender spiritual things are brought up. We both feel the Spirit probably more than we hear him. I think that is a good quality to share--even if it is sometimes less than convenient when it happens in a group of people or during a speaking assignment.