Whose kid are you anyway?

Yesterday the boys and I got to spend the afternoon hanging out with our favorite person - Uncle Willie.  We fed and watered him, helped him with a few projects (ie floated him some money) and took him to football practice.

To fulfill his part of the deal, he had to go to the "Ghetto Mall" with me to look for a little kid tie at the tie store.

side note:  does every community have a ghetto mall?  You know - the place that in your childhood may have been hip and cool (my ghetto mall had the first Gap store in the state when I was 12 - and when the Gap was super cool) but now as an adult, you feel like you might catch a disease while walking around.

Anyway - as we were walking into the mall Uncle Willie was carrying the Chick.  While carrying the Chick he said to me, "You know, everyone here is going to look at us and think that I'm  your kid and that the boys are your kids too."

I said, "I know Willie.  People have been thinking your my kid since you were born.  Is that okay?"

He said, "Yes, it's okay.  As long as they don't think I'm your husband."

No one is going to think that - I'm pretty sure he's safe on that one.

Anyway.....

We walk into the toy store and one boy goes with me to look at the rainbow wall of ties and the other boy is with Willie when....

wait for it.....

the lady at the tie store says to Willie, "Wow.  There is quite an age gap between you two boys."

Willie looks at me with an "I told you so" glimmer in his eye and I say to the clerk, "They aren't brothers.  The big one is the Uncle and the little one is the nephew."

She didn't get it.  I then had to explain that he was my brother, born when I was 17 years old and that people confuse him for my son all the time.

But he's my brother.  I'd take him for my son any day though.  Because if my boys turn out have as good as their Uncle, I'll know I've done something right.