A Generation Apart

Mom has been gone 11 years this week but she is still not without a surprise or two.  

Last week we went to Florida to get some of mom's belongings.  The reason for the trip is another long story in itself - maybe for another time.  I didn't know what I was getting, just that she had some personal effects plus her ashes in an urn.  What we found absolutely floored me.

We found old pictures of my mom and dad.  Some photos, specifically, of their wedding day.  Pictures that until I saw them, I never knew existed.  I never knew there were pictures of the day my parents eloped.  To provide some context, dad was married once before - for less than a year - and was marrying a non-Catholic woman (mom, a Lutheran) for his second time around.  There wouldn't be a church wedding.  Nonetheless, it turns out, mom did have a wedding dress and there was a ceremony.

But the bigger surprise was how much Samantha looks like her Grandma.  So much so it is uncanny.  While these few pictures do not do the comparison justice , there are enough to see that they could easily be mistaken for each other.  I get the chills just looking at them.  Not only that but Sam's affect in the pictures she poses for is very similar to mom's when mom was just a few years older.

In some of the other photos you can seem my mom's affect in the way she poses and smiles.  These are characteristics I see in the way Sam poses and smiles.  And since there is 11 years since mom passed, it isn't like Sam learned this from being around her grandma.

I always thought my niece, Alyssa, looked like Sue Brown, but now there is no denying that Sam inherited those genes too.  Even more so. 

Mom - we miss you - and now we get to see your reflection in your granddaughter.  You would be so proud of her.