Over this morning's coffee

Cindi and I were chatting. Today's first Tuesday so we get the senior discount at Walgreens. Time to stock up on cosmetics and such. For me that amounts to my crew gel and deodorant. Cindi (for a woman) doesn't use much more either. She observed: "We live a kind of simple life" and indeed we do. From there the conversation moved to clothes. She opined that she has too many, though I dare say she has a fraction of the usual for the fair sex. I have a very sparse wardrobe. Exactly five pairs of shoes (black, dockers, sandals, sneakers, and snow boots) in my closet. She has a few more.

It called my mind back to my parent's closet. And once more the realization hit how much I have ended up like my father. He had a uniform he wore every single work day, and often he just wore it on the weekends. Green khakis and a green shirt, mostly short sleeved but not always. He might wear a green sweater in the winter. My uniform is a different color, but most work days I wear a black cleric (almost always short sleeved) and black pants. The uniform eliminates a decision for each work day. Just walk into the closet and don it. He almost always wore loafers; me too. He tended to wear the same hair cut (though I see from pictures he did experiment a bit more when he was younger); me too. And that hair gel? A different gel, but yes, he used gel in his hair and combed it into place each day. A morning without coffee was unthinkable. He took his with cream and sugar. He finished a pot each morning, because he was the only one in the house who drank it. He and mom always ate their breakfast together (Cindi and I do likewise, though she's picked up the coffee habit from me). He didn't particularly enjoy "going." To him the joy was all at home. Me too.

It makes me wonder how many other things are like my father that I don't even begin to realize. He's been gone for 36 years so some of the memories get a bit fuzzy. Odd thoughts for the morning, and all started by this Walgreen's senior discount day....