My Father’s Daughter
Ask any girl that looks like her father and she will tell you there is nothing less flattering than being reminded of it. I can confidently say it first-hand. It’s something I have been told for a long time, particularly by my mother. There will be times she’ll look at me, stare for a moment, and say, “Eres igualita a tu papa.” You’re just like your dad. I’ll be honest when I say it used to bother me quite a bit. Especially when she’d say this to me after they divorced when I was 15 years old. In the beginning of their divorce, saying I was just like my dad wasn’t about the physical aspects–it was an insult. Something she usually said during a fight or an argument we were having.
Eventually, she stopped using my dad as an insult. But the damage had been done. I hated being compared to him. Hated the idea that I looked like him. I was adamant that I was nothing like him. It took a long time before I could accept the way she would gaze at my face, smile, and say those familiar words: You’re just like your dad.
But there’s really no denying it. I am… just like my dad. I have his face. The same round face ridden with moles. The same giant forehead I hide behind my hair. I look in the mirror and the female version of him stares back at me.
Our similarities transcend our looks. I’m left-handed like he is. We have the same mean, crude sense of humor. When I was little, our favorite activity was seeing who could pick on each other more. I still fondly remember the way we used to tease each other, trying to one up the other. We even have the same taste in music. We listen to bands like Led Zeppelin and The Doors–a coincidence I didn’t even know about until long after we stopped living in the same house.
Maria Zaragoza is a writer based in San Diego, CA. She enjoys writing historical fiction and supernatural stories. Her favorite genre to read is magical realism. She has her associates in Media Communication and is also getting her associates in English. She expects to move on to her bachelor’s degree next year. She loves television and her ultimate goals are to obtain her Master’s, write a novel, and write for TV. Aside from writing, movies and tv, her passions include books, animals, and music. Music often has helped her create ideas for her stories. She also hopes to one day travel.