My mom told me last night that I am my grandmother. My grandmother liked to always have her nails done. Me too. My grandmother loved shoes and when she died we found hundreds of pairs of shoes, all in boxes, in numerous closets throughout her house. I cried because they weren’t my (or anyone else in the family’s) size. My grandmother always had her hair done just so. I am pretty particular about my hair, as well. There are other things, purses, jewelry, etc., that we discussed last night over cards and that made me ask the question, what part of the genetic code skipped my mom and went right to me? It’s not like my grandmother shaped and molded me to be like that. She died when I was in eighth grade, and while we spent time with her, it was never doing those types of things. Yet, somehow, these parts of who my grandmother was have been passed on to me.
Once you start asking that question and looking at different traits you have and where you might have picked those up, it really gets interesting.
I definitely got my work ethic from my dad – work hard, finish the job, and finish it well.
My Grandma Luttrell definitely passed on to me some cooking and baking skills, along with a healthy dose of dice-playing skills.
If you know my mom, you might not agree that I got my competitive spirit from her, but you obviously haven’t played pinochle with her then. I watch her play and what is going through her mind is the same as what is going through mine – “I don’t want to lose to these guys!” I also got her tendency to exaggerate a little (“You spilled that ALL OVER the floor!”), and her penchant for making all moments teachable moments.
The list could go on and on. Particularly when you start looking at your kids and what they have gotten from you.
Anne has easily picked up the flair for the dramatic from her mom. That and the tendency to want to make people happy.
Ty has my love of reading, good food, and staying busy.
But what all this really has me thinking about is what traits I have gotten from my Heavenly Father? What has He passed down to me through His DNA? What things have I picked up from Him just from spending time with Him and learning from Him? What of his characteristics would someone say I have gotten from Him?
Just for fun this morning I am including some pictures of Anne and I and Mike and Ty as babies so you can see how much our kids look like us. I hope it makes you smile as you think about these things today.
And what are some of the things that you have picked up from members of your family? I’d love to hear some of them.