In terms of our physical build, I don't think my dad and I have a lot in common. I have broader shoulders than he does, he has thicker calves than I do. I'm about 1 cm taller than him but he can reach a good 3-4cm higher than I can - I don't know if this means I have stumpy limbs, or he's built like a gorilla (I jokingly say the latter).
In 2005, Lauren and I were in Ghana (you can read about our entire trip here). At one point on the trip, we were with my mother, in her hometown, the town where my parents got married. While there, we visited the guy who was the best man at my parents' wedding. One of the the first things he said to me was 'Ah, Kodwo, I can see you have your father's toes'. Needless to say, this was quite the odd comment to hear so soon into conversation.
It was an impressive thing to say right off for several reasons.
1. How in the world did he remember what my dad's toes looked like? Who pays attention to that sort of thing?
2. Why would my toes be one of the first things he noticed? Who pays attention to that sort of thing?
3. He was exactly right.
I do have my dad's toes and they're kind of annoying.
My toes point up. This is hard to explain, but the base of my big toenail is about 1/2 cm closer to the ground than the tip of the toenail, and I keep my toenails pretty short. I think my dad's toes point up even more than mine do (though I'm not sure) and his toenails are definitely not shorter than mine. This causes problems.
For me, every pair of socks I own will get a hole formed by my left or right big toenail long before any other holes form in the sock - I don't think I've ever had a pair of socks get a hole in the heel, for example. I then swap socks, and soon enough, there are holes on both sides of the top of the sock.
The worst case is like the socks I noticed today that both had a hole in the exact same place (the top right of both socks), which means I have a hole that the big left toe pokes out of, regardless of which sock I put on which foot.
I decided to just wear the socks today, with plans to toss them out. I like to wear flip flops around the house and at some point during the evening I looked down and saw this...
As I looked down, thinking about the sock I was about to throw out, my dad, my genes, I thought about the kid we're about to adopt. I've always wanted to adopt a kid, and we're in the final stages of the process now. I looked down at my toe sticking out of my sock and thought two things. First, this kid will never be able to write a blog like this; about the odd gene their dad may have given them. Then I also thought, this kid will never have to write a blog about the odd gene their dad gave them.
I've never liked the phrase 'blood is thicker than water'. Last time I checked, water has nothing to do with family or friends, but love does. Love is more powerful than blood, people have spilt blood for love. And so even though a blog like this will never have to be written in this child's future, hopefully there will be other blogs; better blogs than this one; about the odd father that loved this child.
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