Dad

Ok, Ok, so I'm a bit nostalgic, some might say. Others might be a little less kind and say I'm hallucinating. Still others would say,... well, ... maybe,... a little,... But if you look closely at the picture to the left, this man who was kind enough to allow his picture to be taken by a stranger, and one with an American Accent at that, this man, bears a striking resemblance to my Dad. I've heard it said, although I don't know by whom, and I'm not sure I believe it, that all of us has someone in this universe that we can claim kinship with as a look-alike, not related by blood. I haven't found mine yet, but I'm in Kenya and I've found my father's look-alike,... Go on, take a close look, or maybe you don't have to look that hard. This man is a carbon copy of ..The man.

So you might say, Neil c'mon, you're way over the top on this, and I would say,.. look,... I was at a petrol station where we had stopped to have our radiator hose repaired on the aforemention State-of-The-Art Toyota (see previous post), walking along, minding my own business, when out of the corner of my eye, off to the left, I spy a gentleman, probably the owner of the petrol station, sitting in a chair, and sitting as only my Dad could sit,... those of you who knew him won't need an explanation,..those of you who didn't,.. well, its hard to explain anyway. So I walk closer, and he begins to rise from the chair as only my Dad could rise, and walk as only he could walk,... and, ...I'm not making this up,.. when I asked to take his picture, he sounded like,... that's right. And the most amazing thing,... when he posed for the picture leaning on a car parked outside the petrol station's bay,... he stood like The Man. Even had his shirt open at the collar,... I tell you it was uncanny and a bit spooky,.. don't know how else to describe it.


We live in a small world,... so small that I think we're connected by the tiniest of threads, the most stunning coincidences, the strangest circumstances, that at the most unexpected moments capture our attention and bind us together as the human family we really are. I saw this gentleman for the quickest of 15 minutes, and we were bound for that 15 minutes through his likeness of my father and willingness to have his picture taken because of that. He expressed flattery when asked for his picture and a silent joy when told that he looked like someone that I love. Eerily, the same type of silent joy my father often expressed in similar circumstances, and in that, we found relationship,... for a brief 15 minutes perhaps, but I'll remember those 15 minutes for quite awhile.

So, whenever you're out and about, minding your own business, be on the lookout for that strange set of circumstances that could provoke you to think about how you're linked to your neighbor in very real, yet unexpected ways. Of course some of us may not want to be linked to our neighbor,... but I'll save that one for later. As for me, .. I just felt like yelling, "Hey Dad,.. wait up" :>)