A Small Family Album
I've been thinking a lot about family lately. I'm not sure why. The influences and small factors that they add to your personality that you may never even be aware of. 
From my mother I've taken far more than I'm willing to admit to... a tendency to procrastinate, a certain unwillingness to confront people, an internal clock geared more towards evening than morning. But she also fostered in my sister and I a love for education and the knowledge that we could be successful at anything that we tried hard enough to do. I also hope that I'm as willing to give of myself as she is.
From my paternal grandmother I also carry positives and negatives. Her tendency to carry a grudge was balanced by her unwavering loyalty when she felt it necessary, and her occasionally heavy handed way of dealing with her family never seemed to get in the way of rescuing one of them if it was needed.
I can't find any photos of my maternal grandmother to scan but I know that I carry on her curiosity about family roots and beginnings. I wish that I had the knowledge of those things that she had, and took to her grave with her.
My paternal grandfather is also absent from these pictures, but thing I most often associate with him is his unwillingness to complain, and his total acceptance of circumstance. I can't remember ever seeing him flustered over much of anything.
My father has been outside of my life for so long that it's hard for me to view him objectively and to see what pieces of him I might be burdened with. I do know that I see his face in my mirror some mornings, and have a general body shape similar to his. I hope that I've learned from his mistakes.
Something else that I have my parents to thank for... a superb sense of fashion.
From my mother I've taken far more than I'm willing to admit to... a tendency to procrastinate, a certain unwillingness to confront people, an internal clock geared more towards evening than morning. But she also fostered in my sister and I a love for education and the knowledge that we could be successful at anything that we tried hard enough to do. I also hope that I'm as willing to give of myself as she is.
From my paternal grandmother I also carry positives and negatives. Her tendency to carry a grudge was balanced by her unwavering loyalty when she felt it necessary, and her occasionally heavy handed way of dealing with her family never seemed to get in the way of rescuing one of them if it was needed. I can't find any photos of my maternal grandmother to scan but I know that I carry on her curiosity about family roots and beginnings. I wish that I had the knowledge of those things that she had, and took to her grave with her.
My paternal grandfather is also absent from these pictures, but thing I most often associate with him is his unwillingness to complain, and his total acceptance of circumstance. I can't remember ever seeing him flustered over much of anything.
My father has been outside of my life for so long that it's hard for me to view him objectively and to see what pieces of him I might be burdened with. I do know that I see his face in my mirror some mornings, and have a general body shape similar to his. I hope that I've learned from his mistakes. 
Something else that I have my parents to thank for... a superb sense of fashion.
you so cute.
Great post...It's funny how we so often see those positive and negative traits within ourselves...not so much the physical ones. There are those certain traits that i have that I always think "I don't want to be like my dad" for one reason or another...the older i get, the more i DON'T want to be that way..the more I become!...Too weird. There's a line in the U2 song "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" that goes: Its you when I look in the mirror, it's you when i don't pick up the phone....
That's so me and my dad.
Great post..you really got me thinking!