This is my favorite picture of me and my dad. Even though you my upper arm looks fat and you can see the blemish near my shoulder, and my hair looks like it needs to brushed, because it needs to be brushed.

This picture was taken on his last birthday. Ever.

I’m standing behind his chair and leaning in, so our heads are next to each other and I have a big happy birthday smile. I remember being surprised the first time I saw this picture, because he’s smiling so much his face his flushed. He looks like he’s laughing.

You can tell how much we look alike in this picture. Sometimes it’s hard to tell because of his full beard, the extra weight around his face and wear and tear that came from being 30 years ahead of me, seven major surgeries and three rounds of chemo/radiation.

But in this picture, you can see very clearly that this is my father.

When my father went in for his sixth major surgery, we were waiting with him in the OR prep room. The P.A. said, “We need some O+ blood for Mr. Lane, please,” and I said, “Dad! I have O+ blood too!” and the P.A. said, without even looking up from the chart, “Well congratualtions Mr. Lane. That means you’re her father.”

“Oh.”

That was a bit deflating.

So while we already had hard evidence that the family blood lines were solid, it’s nice to have this one picture, where you can see the man’s face in his daughter. And all because he’s smiling.