Daddy’s Girl

A week or so ago, I wrote about how much my mom and I have in common. I would be remiss not to write about the characteristics I share with my natural dad because I definitely belong to him as well. While I haven’t been able to spend as much time with him as my natural mom, one need only start looking at our photos to see similarities. I definitely have his eyes and hair, a bit of his smile, and more of his natural build. In fact, as soon as I saw the first photo of my natural dad I thought, “Yep. No denying that he’s my dad.”

As we’ve shared emails, messages, and even a face-to-face conversation over the last 10 months, I have discovered other similarities as well. He’s a deep thinker, so I got a double dose of that trait, which explains a lot. I also noted he’s a deep feeler, but rather than sharing those feelings quickly or directly, I think he shares them in his music. As a musician and song writer, he uses music as an outlet for what he feels. While I don’t write songs, I write other things – most of which I have never shared with the world (or anyone for that matter). I admire that he shares his music, and I must admit it was a small piece of the inspiration it took for me to share this blog.

Shortly after we met, I found another common trait. He “disappears” for a while when he is in thinking mode. I discovered this because I didn’t hear from him for a few days right after we met. I hesitantly checked in via an “everything okay” Facebook message and he explained that he had been thinking and writing a bit. I laughed as I wrote my response because I do the exact same thing. I need time to process my thoughts and feelings most of the time, so I have a tendency to go “radio silent” for a bit in those moments. The good news is that we’ll understand those silent moments; the bad news is that if we ever have them at the same time, we may not talk for a while.

I also credit him with my natural athletic talent. I’ve basically been good at sports my entire life (and that was definitely honed in my adoptive family by my big brother, Shawn), and I think that’s attributable to my baseball-playing natural dad. I’ve always liked that part of me, so I happily give him credit for it!

I’m not sure all of the other ways he may have “stamped” me, but I am excited about discovering more of them as we get to know each other better. In the meantime, I can definitely say I’m my natural daddy’s girl too. I guess I’m a good mix of him and my natural mom. That’s pretty cool to know after all these years.