A Special Gift

A few years ago, I received a wonderful gift from a cousin whom I have never met in person: a photo of my paternal grandmother, Violet. It is a sepia-toned photograph which someone meticulously handcolored, giving my grandmother's cheeks just the faintest touch of pink. When I saw it I suddenly knew who my father looked like AND which side of the family I took after.

When I was a child everyone remarked that it was obvious who my father was, but where he got his looks from was a mystery to me. No matter how hard I tried to see some semblance of my father in his own dad, it was just about impossible. Although they both had naturally wavy hair, a wicked sense of humor, and short tempers (as well as the same first, middle and last names), my paternal grandfather was average height and thin, with grey colored eyes and a long, pointed nose. Dad was 6'3" and heavyset, with hazel eyes and a broad, rounded nose. My grandfather looked like a school teacher while my father looked more like a linebacker. But when I saw the picture of my grandmother I knew her instantly, even though my brothers and I never met either of our grandmothers, and we had never seen pictures of Violet. I believe that if someone had handed me a hundred portraits with my grandmother's amongst them, I would have been able to pick it out of the stack with little difficulty. The photograph was truly a special gift!

(P.S. The one thing I did NOT inherit from my father via his mother are my blue eyes. Those are a gift from my mother. Thanks, Mom!)