Sometimes Troy and I aren’t 100 percent convinced Huck is our child, what with his academic leanings and love for Katy Perry.  More and more often, though, I am seeing a lot of resemblance between father and son, and that’s what these stories are going to be about.  The other day Huck dressed himself in long white socks and fancy dress shoes that are much too small for his ever growing feet.  The rest of his outfit was a tie dye shirt and a pair of cargo shorts.  I was pretty mortified by this ensemble but tried not to care, and as we headed to the subway for a museum trip downtown he exclaimed, “My feet feel terrible but at least I look good!”   And suddenly I saw why so many people think he looks like his dad.

Huck is extremely into Kidz Bop music these days and because I’m not, I let him use our iPod and speakers which instantly turned him into a teenager who likes to hang out in his room listening to music (and choreographing dances). Sometimes when we’re out and about I let him carry the iPod in his pocket and listen to the music with headphones. Just like Pappy T, Huck cannot, will not be silent as he walks along singing pretty loudly to the words that only he can hear.  Best of all, Troy has been learning some of the songs on guitar so the two of them can totally nerd-out with their public performances of Katy Perry’s “Firework,” Flo Rida’s “Club Can’t Even Handle Me Right Now,” and Maroon 5′s “Moves Like Jagger.”  Sometimes both wearing swim suits, often with choreography.

One of the ways Huck is like his sweet mother (and friend Michael Arthur) is that we all like to put on jammies the second we get home, even if only for an hour.  Huck’s favorite pajamas is a pair of brown plaid old-man-like bottoms with my orange Harvest Festival ladies t-shirt.  Over the last few years these pajama pants have gotten a lot of wear and tear, and when we noticed a big rip in one of the knees a while back I suggested getting rid of them.  Huck begged me to get them patched, and so we took them to the neighborhood tailor and $8 later they were good as new.  Until last week when the other knee developed a large hole and Huck decided he would like to use his spending money to repair them.  The tailor smiled as I handed them back to him and explained the situation, and this morning Huck proudly took some dollar bills out of his duct tape wallet to pay for them.  The cost of fixing these pants has far outweighed the dollar I paid for them at our church’s thrift sale a few years ago.   And while Troy didn’t go to this extreme when his multi-colored plaid old-man-like jammie bottoms developed rips and tears, he did cut them off at the knees and wore them like a humble Scotsman.  My guys love their old plaid pants, what can I say?

Speaking of fathers and sons, Troy’s dad has been quite ill for a while now and last week he suffered a terrible fall.  Troy is there with him in Wichita now, hoping to relieve his sister Tina and stepmom Laura a bit.  Please send a little prayer for a peaceful end to a difficult life.