So, this is how I know I'm my father's son.

This is...the gum story.

One evening I was going to see the Atlanta Hawks play at Philips Arena. As I walked towards the Arena, there was this dude standing the corner, handing out individually wrapped pieces of chewing gum - Doublemint. Promotional stuff. He gave me a heaping handful. Enough to fill both of my back pockets.

So, as I was leaving Arena, dude was still around, only this time he was in a parking lot, instead of on the corner. As I was walking up, I saw this other dude walking away from gum dude, carrying a box. I walked to him and said "I want a box, man." "I can't just give you a box.", he said, "But I'll sell you one."

I just happened to know exactly how much money I had - $27. And I DEFINITELY wasn't about to give this guy $20 for a box of gum. (There is never any change given for streetcorner transactions.) So I offered him $7. The deal was done.

And so, I was the proud owner of a brand new, unopened box of individually wrapped sticks of Doublemint. 2,500 sticks of Doublemint.

Can you imagine? Over two thousand pieces of gum? It was everywhere. It was in my car. It was at my job. My parents had it. My (now) in-laws had some. Everywhere.

That's about the end of the story. It took my collective family quite a while to chew through all that gum. I mean, this had to have been some time in 2003 at the latest, and I found a piece in the Cadillac when they towed it away back in January.

And THAT'S how I know I'm my father's son. I'm 100% sure he would have made the same deal as I, only HE would have gotten it for $5, or maybe even $2, and saved a few bucks.

Know What I'm Sayin'??