Family Features

When it was that I first located my son online, upon seeing the first few photos on facebook, I knew immediately that I was his father. The thing which stood out mostly for me were the eyes. Those were the same features in my daughter which told me that I was her father. When I saw her as a child, the cheekbones of hers also told their story. Then when I saw my eyes in my granddaughter and those same cheekbones in my grandson, it only made me more confident that I had found the children I had always felt. Believe it or not, but I had been telling people for the past 20 years that I believed I had daughter in Mobile. I had searched for years, to no avail, trying to locate their mother just to ask that simple question. It was not until earlier this year that God made it abundantly clear that I had a daughter. So, my first instinct was to contact an ex in Connecticut to verify that it was not she with whom I had this daughter. Then, for the first time since she had left campus more than 21 years ago, I found contact information for my twins' mother. I wrote a lengthy letter making inquiry about my daughter. It was not until some days after having written the letter that I was able to intuit that there was also a boy.

This is the first photo I saw of him. It was all that was required for me to know:

This second photo offers a better indication of those eyes I mentioned earlier:

When you consider my face when I was this same age, there is no doubt:

This photo of my daughter is my favorite of hers. I wrote to her that there is something in this photo which artists and photographers aim for when they are in the midst of doing their work. Take notice of those eyes!

But before seeing the previous photo, it was this one when she was about 7 that convinced me she was my daughter. I would just stare at this photo several times a day, almost wanting to reach out and embrace them both:

So, then came time to see the next generation. My grandson Christopher has my cheekbones as well, and I understand that he is a wiz at school! A chip-off-the-old-block!

Those eyes in my grand-daughter Amaiya are undeniable as well:

I guess you can tell that I am a proud father and grandfather. This is my family and they are beautiful.