Laughter is eternity if joy is real

My dad loved this photo. He used to pull it out anytime he wanted to show people pictures of his once epic afro.

He loved it, but I hated it. Every time someone saw a picture of my dad and his hippy hair, they also saw a picture of me in a diaper... wearing my mom's boots. I was embarrassed every time this picture got a public viewing. Dad had other pictures of the massive afro - yet this is the one he displayed. I always thought he was intentionally trying to humiliate me.

I couldn't see the picture for what it was. It was a part of who my dad's identity - his history. But it was also a picture of me... his adorable two year old. Maybe I needed to hear the statement in U2's newest single Get on Your Boots a little more often - "you don't know how beautiful you are."

The embarrassment wasn't intentional. However, there was a purpose in his choice of this picture. It may have been pride in his death defying hair (and who wouldn't be proud to rock an afro like that), but it was also pride in me - his youngest son. The awesome afro wasn't the focus of this picture but a side benefit. The reason for this photo was the boots. My parents wanted a picture of their son doing something ridiculously cute.

I, like most boys have always striven to make my father proud. This picture is proof of a truth I wish I had have known when I was younger: I didn't need to earn my father's pride and there was nothing I could do to make him proud of me. He has always been proud of me, for no reason. I was his son, and that was enough.

I get it now. And I can laugh at this picture. All things considered, I'm sure I have an embarrassing arsenal of photos of my son doing equally (if not greater) ridiculous things. Like my father was proud of me, I am proud of my son - in all his goofy ways.




Get on Your Boots appears on the recently released album No Line on the Horizon.