Those Family Resemblances

The other day my youngest child sent me the above combo pic. On the left is her today at almost 34. That's me on the right at only 15. Uhhhh….guess there's not much chance I could say she isn't mine is there? Pretty uncanny, huh?

Now look between me and this woman. Notice a resemblance? Except for the nose and hairstyle, we look the same! That's my mother when she was 18, just 3 years older than me in the photo above. This was her Senior High School portrait. Beautiful wasn't she?

Now look at this woman. Look at my mother, and then me. You see the similarities? This is my great-grandmother. (My mother's father's mother.)

And then there are such similarities on my dad's side as well!

Now look at this young fella here. Notice any resemblance between him and me? Look at that nose! Yes, you guessed right. That's my dad. Just a year older than me in the pic above.

And this one? Look at those eye brows and brow ridge? Yes, that's my dad's mother, my grandmother.

Now this one is a little tougher. See the gentleman here? That's my dad's dad, or my grandfather. Not much physically resembling him here. Or so you would think.

Now look at the two men in the middle of this photo. That's my dad on the right, and his brother, Jack, on the left. Now look at the man above. Eerily alike!

This is a sister of the two men, Margaret. She passed away a few years ago. Around the mouth, and the obvious very white shock of hair

And finally, look at this one. Look at that white hair! (I'm only 58!)

We are often an amalgamation of our parents and grandparents, and even our great-grandparents! I look at myself in the mirror and I see my mother, and my father, my grandmother Beane, my aunts and uncles. There's that Faudree nose from my dad's mother's family. Chubby cheeks from there as well. My mother's smile. Her brow arch. The shockingly white hair of my grandpa Beane. The height and heavy build of my Grandpa Dreher (mom's dad). I don't see any of my mom's mother in me. But I do have the height and build of her father, my great-grandfather Banet. Tall, big man. (Shame I didn't take after my great-grandmother Banet's family, the Eve's. Tiny petite women who lived to ripe old ages and never had any gray hair!) But then, I'd have to use a step stool to reach my top cupboards! Ha ha.

Who do you see when you look in the mirror? Do you see your parents? Your grandparents? Aunts? Uncles?

One thing for certain....my daughter can say she pretty much knows what she'll look like when she reaches my age! The gray hairs are arriving as I speak! LOL