On the QEW in 1979

This is one of my favorite pictures of my dad. He didn’t particularly like to be photographed, so he very often made some kind of goofy grin or hid his face. But this one actually looks like him, which is kind of nice.

I also like it, though, because he’s driving and it makes me think of all the road trips we took when I was a kid (he didn’t like to fly any more than he liked to be photographed) and because in this shot, we just happen to be on the way to Toronto.

It’s weird, though, for me to realize that my dad was about a year younger than I am now when this photo was taken.

I’ve always thought I was more line my mom than my dad in general. We have more of a family resemblance and we maybe shared a few more interests overall. But as I get older, I see more of my dad in me too, or at least the things I romanticize about him, like his love of driving and exploring and the way he always had some little diner tucked away in whichever town we were in.

And his sense of humor.

And the fact that we both ended up a little, uh, endearingly impatient. Yeah. That’s a diplomatic way to put it…

Anyway, I miss him.

Happy Father’s Day.

Polyurbanism

(noun) The fact or practice of openly having intimate relationships with more than one city at once.

“After his relationship with San Francisco failed, David began exploring polyurbanism and was exhilarated by the freedom of not having to choose a single city to love.”