The first video footage taken in the hospital was when Dan filmed me holding Brittain for the first time. I love that footage. During filming, you hear Dan ask me who I thought Brittain looked like. My answer was, “Me”, but Dan’s answer was, “When I saw her back in the nursery, she looked like the spitting image of your dad.” There have never been truer words spoken. Ever since the day she was born, I am constantly told the same thing…”she looks SO much like your dad.” Well, yes, I know.
The strange thing about this is that Brittain has had an extremely difficult time warming up to this person who she favors so much. And, more recently, not only have we continued to see the resemblance in looks, but that Danny Clark personality shows more and more. Her expressions especially. She often gives me a look that causes me to say, “hmmm…I wonder who you got THAT look from.”
To be quite honest, the whole situation has depressed me. Mom constantly tells Cecilia and me stories about what a wonderful Daddy “Duke” was to us when we were little. And, he has continued to be a dad that I think most men would wish to strive to be like. It has been difficult for me to accept that Brittain couldn’t warm up to him like I wished she would.
I’m not sure if it was timing for Brittain, or what, but just this past week things suddenly turned around. On Wednesday afternoon after I had gotten home from work, Duke called me to ask if he could come by and pay Brittain a visit. When he came in, the scenario started out just as in the past. Brittain took one look at him and then began to cling to me. We headed to her nursery where Duke and I got in the floor with her to play. It was at that moment that Brittain decided she was going to love Duke. It was as if they had never missed a beat with each other. They were making their twin expressions to each other and laughing and playing like you’ve never seen. I LOVED it! It made me appreciate my dad all over again – the wonderful father he has been to me and the wonderful, fun grandfather he is to Brittain. What a great and refreshing day that was.
Here is Duke giving Brittain his famous “tummy kick”…that is a tummy kiss in layman’s terms. She loved it so much that she kept pulling his head back to her tummy for more!:
The night these next two pictures were taken, I had just finished looking at some old pictures of my dad. You have NO idea how much she looks like my dad as a baby and young child:
Thank you, Duke, for being the best Dad (and granddad) that we could ask for.
