Charles James Jr.

People who knew Charles James Jr. tell me all the time I'm just like him. Some say I have his eyes, others his laugh. People who saw me perform at Ouachita Baptist University, (Charles' college of choice as well), tell me that I even have his musical talent. I am a first tenor like him, I make this weird, vibrant trumpet noise like Charles did, and I even play piano and guitar by ear, just like him. We're even about the same height, although I think I beat him out by 3/4 of an inch. He loved to make people laugh. He had a heart for God, just like I hope people say about me. He even loved photography, just as much, if not more than I do. 

These are all things people have told me over the years. You see, Charles was taken by cancer when I was four years old. To this day, people still tell me how much they miss him, how he was such a great man, and even better, a great man of God. They tell me how much he loved me, how talented he was, and what a wonderful person he was to be around. 

So when I put these two pictures together, it's as if I knew him as well as I knew myself. I just hope that one day when I'm gone, people talk about Justin James, like they talk about Charles James Jr., my dad.