apples and trees

“You look just like your mom!”  I’ve heard it time and again beginning way back in those teenage years when the ugly duckling stage of the tweens began to molt into something a bit easier on the eyes.  I never knew how to take the comment, because what do you say when someone states the obvious?  “Um, thanks?” I certainly took it as a compliment since I always thought my mom looked great for her age.

(And now that I’m approaching the age she was at the time of these comments, can I just say she was young?  Really, really YOUNG!)

Here we are back a few years (decade?) at my bridal shower:

I’m one apple that didn’t fall too far from the tree.

I think looks are one thing shared among the women in my family.  Here’s me with my younger sister:

We don’t look alike.  Nope.  Not a bit.

It’s one thing to get looks from your mom.  It’s another thing entirely to get the whole package deal.  I’m one of the rare (and I believe blessed) individuals who can say “I sound just like my mom” and be thrilled about it.

My mom’s got some things I’d like to grow into some day.  Things like…

…wisdom

…grace

…creativity

…forgiveness

…empathy

…play

…childlike spirit

…faith in hard times and easy times

…and love.  Lots and lots of love.

…love for adventures

…love for new places

…love for memories and traditions

…love for family

…love for friends who have become like family

…love that goes around and around till it’s reached all the loveables and unloveables in life

…and a ridiculously svelte figure for a woman her age.  (Which is still young, really, really YOUNG!)

So if you tell me I look just like my mom, I’ll give you a hug.  I want to be just like her when I grow up.  And if I can pass anything onto Little Friend, any seed of the things I love in my mom, well, then I will have done my job as well.

I’d say we’re off to a good start.  Here’s me at age 2:

Here’s Little Friend at age 2:

She’s another apple that fell pretty darn close to the tree.

I guess I can say: “like grandmother, like daughter, like grand-daughter.”

Here we are, the tree, the apple, and the seed:

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Trees who nurture and grow the Apples and Seeds of tomorrow!