Fishing with Dad?

It was a beautiful night last night fishing with my nieces and my aunt.  We watched the sun set, the moon rise, the stars emerge, and a lightning storm well off in the north which put on an incredible show.  We caught fish.  We laughed.  It was a perfect summer night.

In the middle of it, I couldn't help but think of my dad.  I said a little prayer, "I'm not sure how that whole afterlife thing works, dad, but I have to believe that if you could be here, with your granddaughters, on this lake, you'd love it.  I wish you could be here with us..."

We continued our fishing, with the ladies armed with the poles and with me relegated to driving the boat.  In the dark, all we had was the moon and the instrument panel to shed light.

After about 15 minutes, one niece sitting at the front of the boat turned around and said "Uncle Mikey!  Your face looks EXACTLY like Poppa," (their name for my dad).  The other niece tunred and said "Oh wow, you do!  Your face looks EXACTLY like him.  In the light from the dashboard.  It's Poppa's face!"

I was first a little ticked off.  Dad was kind of a jowly guy, and I didn't necessarily want to look EXACTLY like him.

But on the ride home it kind of hit me.  Hard.  These two knew my dad only when they were so much younger.  It was amazing to me that they'd make a remark like that. 

Who knows what exactly was seen?  Perhaps it was all some kind of weird coincidence.  Perhaps I do just look too much like my old man; jowls and all.  

Personally, I'd like to think that maybe we spent a little time fishing with dad last night.