Spittin' Images

My father

 I was talking to my hubby the other day about genealogy and we got off on the tangent of family resemblances.  I've always had this theory that firstborn children, for some reason, never have quite the strong family resemblances that later children do.  My half-baked theory on this is that the genetic pool is still working things out when that first baby is born and it takes awhile for things to get straightened out. Therefore, by the time the second or third baby comes around, features have pretty much gotten into alignment with the ancestral line and those kids tend to resemble their parents or an ancestor much more strongly than a first-born.  The exceptions are only kids.  Somehow, genes seem to realize that they've only got one shot at this and their self-preservation kicks into high gear and they get it together and out pops a kid who usually does resemble a parent from the get-go.  Don't quote me on this.  It's just what I happen to believe.

My mother

 I have never felt that I resembled either of my parents nor any of my relatives.  I wished I did.  My mother was a beautiful woman with dimples that didn't quit.  My maternal grandparents had some fantastic cheekbones and dimples and my maternal grandmother had a chest Dolly Parton would envy.  All I inherited were the hips.  Whoopie!  I did get my dad's two-toned eyes (blue with brown inner-rings) and hairline on the temples but that was about it from him.  But as a kid, I always felt that surely I must be adopted.  Did you ever have that feeling?

My maternal grandfather

My mother's father was a handsome devil, as was his father and all the uncles.  They all had those high cheekbones and aristocratic noses and piercing eyes.  I always thought my mom really resembled my grandfather.

My maternal grandmother

My maternal grandmother had the wide dutch hips, full body, and round face.  She and her sister, Sara had darker coloring that they inherited from their mother.  The other two siblings were much fairer.  From Grandma, I inherited her hips, her musical ability, her love of knitting, and her love of eating.
 

My paternal grandfather

My paternal grandfather, who was long deceased by the time I was born, had those piercing blue eyes, high forehead, and high cheekbones.

My paternal grandmother

My paternal grandmother, also long gone by the time I was born, had a cleft chin (I have always envied those who have that chin dimple) and thin lips.  OK, I guess I got the thin lips from her.  But it looks like that's all I inherited from her.  But looking at them all, there is just no one that you look at and say, "Wow, you are the spitting image of your ancestor."  I just think that would be so neat.  It would be like coming around the corner in a museum and finding yourself face-to-face with a picture of yourself only that picture would have been painted several centuries ago and you'd discover that it was an ancestor of yours.  How cool would that be?

This past summer, we came across a picture of my great-great uncle on my dad's side.  I took one look at him and thought, "My gosh, he looks like my brother."  I did a little photo editing (added a similar beard to my brother's photo) and here you have the two of them side-by-side.  Between Great-great Uncle John and my Great-Grandfather John VanRossum, who my brother also resembles, it isn't a stretch to see where my brother (the SECOND-born) got his looks.  I think my theory holds, in this case.

Me

 So I guess I'll have to be content with just  looking like myself.  Maybe some day I'll come across a picture of an ancestor and I'll do a double-take and see myself in that picture.  I can only hope.  In the meantime, I can always fantasize that I truly am adopted and that my actual parents are.......well, it's only limited by my imagination, isn't it?