I love burgers. A delicious mix of meat, cheese, toppings (bacon, mushrooms, caramelized onions, and a fried egg if I’m lucky), and bread comes together in a terrific bite. Now, most people see a burger, pick it up both hands, and dig right in. Not me. I cut my burgers in half.

I’ve split my burgers for as long as I can remember. I get a knife, cut the burger down the middle, and eat one half followed by the other. That’s just the proper way to eat a burger. Rishi’s way of eating a burger. But the truth is it is not my way. It’s my dad’s way.

A few years before I was born, my dad was in a major car accident. A horrible combination of Canadian winter, black ice, and an oncoming pickup truck left him hospitalized for six months. One of his five surgeries was on his jaw, which needed to be set post-accident. Unfortunately, the surgeons set his jaw incorrectly the first time which meant my dad had to make a difficult choice: leave the jaw set as is (limiting the width he could open his mouth to 2.5 cm) or rebreak and reset his jaw. He chose the former. What is an unforeseen consequence of not being able to open your mouth wider than a few cms? You can’t fit a burger, bun, and fixings in a single bite. Which means you cut your burgers in half. It’s the only way I’ve ever seen my dad eat his favorite burger (coincidentally, with bacon, mushrooms, caramelized onions, and a fried egg), and it’s the only way I’ve ever thought to eat mine.

Today, as I eat my Roam Tejano burger, watching my almost-two-year-old play, I reminded how much a child’s world view is reflective of their parents. We are our children’s models for the world, their superheroes. They pay attention to everything, pick up on even the smallest cues, and copy us in all things - big, small, and beefy.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there.

And to my dad: I love you. Thank you. I hope you enjoyed your burger today, as well!

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