This Saturday, as I was watching Hopie recite Philippians 3:7-14 at the ASCI Speech Meet in Columbus, I became very distracted. A good mom listens intently, concentrating on her daughter's every word. I really was proud of her and the courage it took to memorize and quote so much scripture. But there was one thing I just couldn't get out of my head. As she stood before her audience sharing every word verbatim, I was mesmerized by how much she looked like my first cousin, Becky. I wanted to shake my head from side to side like they do in cartoons to dislodge my thought pattern. It's not that I don't love my cousin Becky. She is one of my favorite people. But I knew what I was there for, and it wasn't to make familial connections in my brain as to whom my daughter looks like. It was involuntary.....and I couldn't help myself. "Focus....you must focus...."
Today, I took Hopie to get a much needed haircut. She went with a friend of hers and they both had an after school beauty adjustment. They were already beautiful to begin with.....their hairdresser just fine tuned them a little bit. When we returned home, Hopie ran downstairs to show her daddy her new look. He looked over at me, without her seeing him, and mouthed "Becky." I completely agreed with him. Now, he was seeing it too. She is a chip off the old ancestral block.
I think genetics is a strange, yet fascinating thing. How is it that my daughter can look that much like her first cousin once removed? (Is that right? I don't know how to figure out the cousin branches on the family tree once you get passed the first limbs.) Maybe we have strong genes like the Kennedy's. Have you ever noticed in their family photos, how some of their facial features have floated consistently across the gene pool? Bizarre, isn't it?
PS- My cousin Becky only reads my blog once in a blue moon. It will probably take her a couple of years to notice I posted something about her. Let's see how long it takes. :)
PPS- Hopie won a "Superior" rating at the Speech Meet!! She scripturally rocks!!
Posts
