<\/p>\n
When my son Callen was born, my dad became obsessed\u2014in a way that felt more intense than endearing. He rushed to the hospital that morning, barely acknowledged me, and went straight for the baby, emotional and wide-eyed. \u201cHe\u2019s perfect,\u201d he kept repeating. \u201cDefinitely got our blood.\u201d<\/p>\n
At first, it felt sweet. He visited daily, bringing tiny clothes and helping out. I thought maybe he was trying to make up for not being around much when I was younger.<\/p>\n
But then the comments started.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis eyes are pretty light, huh?\u201d
\u201cThat nose\u2014doesn\u2019t quite look like ours.\u201d<\/p>\n
I brushed it off\u2014babies change. But the remarks didn\u2019t stop.<\/p>\n
One day, while handing Callen back to me, Dad said, \u201cAre you sure you\u2019re the father?\u201d<\/p>\n
I laughed it off, but he didn\u2019t. He just stared at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome on, Dad. He\u2019s got my ears,\u201d I said, pointing them out.<\/p>\n
But he kept pushing. \u201cHis skin\u2019s lighter\u2026 and that hair\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
I cut him off, but he wouldn\u2019t let it go. Every visit, more doubts. More subtle jabs.<\/p>\n
Then one day, while I was in the kitchen with my wife Katie, I overheard him talking to my uncle Mark in the living room:<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think this baby looks like Ethan. Maybe we should get a test\u2014just to be sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
My heart dropped. \u201cA test? What are you even saying?\u201d I asked, walking in.<\/p>\n
Dad looked guilty. Mark was oblivious, making faces at the baby.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou really think we need a paternity test?\u201d I said, trying to keep my voice steady.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When my son Callen was born, my dad became obsessed\u2014in a way that felt more intense than endearing. He rushed to the hospital that morning, barely acknowledged me, and went straight for the baby, emotional and wide-eyed. \u201cHe\u2019s perfect,\u201d he kept repeating. \u201cDefinitely got our blood.\u201d At first, it felt sweet. He visited daily, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5430"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5431,"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5430\/revisions\/5431"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}