I had a draft of a post written from a few nights ago, about how people assume you like characters that look like you and your siblings are just like you, because we’re all sort of morons, I guess. It included something I’ve sent friends on rough days to improve the quality of their lives: my resemblance to Stef from the Goonies.
But then all this Eeyore Drinking Gin and Doing Math despondency set in, and it seemed neither the time nor the place for heady talk about character, empathy and appearance. It is the time and place for embarrassing photos, though.
I never knew about this resemblance until, while covering Gen. Petraeus’s visit to Vanderbilt, one of his staff informed me I looked like Stef in the Goonies. It’s an odd thing to tell someone, actually. I mean, Martha Plimpton just got nominated for an Emmy and a bunch of Tonys and everything, so there’s far worse things to hear. I’d never seen the Goonies, though, so I didn’t think much of it until I saw this post last fall.
Normally, I just send this still from the movie:
And people laugh and it’s just vim and vigor and a gentle breeze, because I really do look like her in this scene.
But allow me to drag up a photo from “The Rough Patch: The Katherine Miller Story, 1998-2005″ to lift the yoke of default from your weary shoulders.
Just a peach there on the right. We had just completed our tour at the Edison Home in Ft. Myers, Florida, and everything about my facial expression reflects that experience. My brother and father are liars. That little detour into Floridian history is still Miller Family Legend, when Miss Beulah the tour guide dragged a dozen innocents around in South Florida summer heat, pointing out lemon trees and the souls of the valiant who’d perished before us.
In fact, let’s take a good hard side-by-side look at that:
I picked that haircut! This is why I don’t know how to braid hair.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I was there this December! I loved the banyan tree. But all I could imagine is Edison and Ford sitting side by side and chucking citrus fruit at distant Jewish relatives of mine.
I noticed the Martha Plimpton resemblance months ago, but it never came up in conversation.
Similar to Tom Hanks’ response to his son in “Sleepless in Seattle” those rough years have given you something to talk about and as the parent who was responsible for the Edison home tour, I’ll just say “you’re welcome, Stef.”
Such a great early birthday present. This photo should be on a brochure for the Edison home to ward off innocent tourists.
I CANNOT believe you chose that haircut. It is very Ron Weasley. You have come a long way my friend.