"Arm Wrestling With My Father" by Brad Manning

I thought that "Arm Wrestling With My Father" by Brad Manning was very interesting and stood out to me this week.  This piece is all about how there are many different ways to show love.  The father and son in this piece displayed their love for each other in a physical way rather than communicating verbally.  "What he had said to me in that last hug was that he loved me"  (Manning).  The outside world would probably perceive that hug as completely characteristic of a father and son.  However, their relationship rarely consists of sentimental hugs like this every time the depart.  Their relationship is certainly not defined by open communication or obvious physical displays of love.  This strongly reminds me of "Disability"  by Nancy Mairs.  "Disability"  is all about how people are not defined by how other people perceive them.  "Take it from me, physical disability looms pretty large in one's life.  But it doesn't devour one wholly.  I'm not, for instance, Ms. MS, a walking, talking embodiment of a chronic incurable degenerative disease"  (Mairs).  In this quote, Mairs is saying how she is indeed disabled, yet that is not who she is as a person.  Going back to the arm wrestling piece, the father and son are indeed less verbally communicative than other families. However, this does not mean that they do not love each other, or do not express their love.  It's more subtle and seen in the smaller things.  They don't say they love each other in so many words, but they display it through actions.  They define their own relationship, just like Mairs defined herself despite the force of perception.