Seeing Dad

It's kind of funny what watching one's own children grow up will do. I begin to see my own parents looking back at me through them. This time it was my father peering out at me from behind Nate's eyes. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there he is, not in whole, but in part.

Once upon a time my father was young and in love. His hair was blond, his body young and strong, his heart full of hopes and dreams. Mom's "Music Man" was just starting out in life, a guitar or harmonica a constant companion. He had no idea where life would take him or how long the journey would last.

Nate and Sabrina are just beginning their adventure. There will be obstacles along the way, just like there were for Mom and Dad. They will need our love and encouragement as they travel the road. My dad missed the opportunity to really meet Sabrina and get to know her, but I know how he would have responded because Dad loved each one who crossed his path. He knew how to make everyone feel special. Maybe one day I too will learn how to fill a tiny part of those shoes Dad left behind and as I learn I will enjoy finding him in the lives and faces of my family as well.

My Great Grandfathers

When I was a little girl there were two portraits hiding around the corner at Great Grandma's house. One was of Great Grandpa and the other was his father. Both these men were complete strangers to me, their photographs a curiosity.

My great grandfather, Joseph Shafer, was born on August 9, 1862. His mother, Mittie Jennings, died on Christmas day when Joseph was just four months old. Her parents eventually petitioned the court for custody of their two young grandchildren, my grandpa and his sister Hattie. By the time Joseph married Great Grandma, he was already 39 years old, she was almost 19. Together they had eleven children, 7 girls and 4 boys. Joseph was a farmer in the hills above Angelica, NY and raised horses. He taught my father to play the harmonica and loved to work in his garden. When he died in 1950, he left behind and old autograph book that found a home in Great Grandma's living room. When Dad took us to visit I would find the little book and read it.

I know very little of my great great grandfather, Garret Fred Shafer. According to my father's cousin, Janice, he was born in September of 1832 in Thomkins County, NY. Garret's own father disappeared when he was young and his mother was not well. The children were farmed out to other families and Garret was said to have been raised by the Van Campens. Garret married Mittie Jennings and they had two children, a girl and a boy. After his first wife died, Garret remarried and had other children. According to Great Grandma, the second wife was not kind to Joseph and Hattie. Garret eventually traveled west and died in April of 1905 in Altoona, Missouri.

Several years back my father was given the portrait of his great grandfather, Garret. The photo hangs in my parent's dining room and bears an uncanny resemblance to Dad. When Mom was still doing daycare the children often remarked on the picture of "Uncle Al."

Family Friday

I think they look a little bit alike... Okay, I think they look a lot alike. Look at those eyelashes! And they both have blue eyes too. And, if Lukie's hair wasn't all soaped up with shampoo, their hair would look the same too.

I think it's fun to find family look alikes.

Family Friday

Family... What does that mean anyway? Typically we think of family as those related to us by either blood or marriage (parents, children, brothers and sisters...), but with God we have another family, our brothers and sisters in Christ. It's hard to explain to someone who hasn't been there and experienced it, but this is more than just your average friendship.

My daughter spent 10 days in El Salvador with these wonderful women. Rut (or Ruth) was the translator/ interpreter for the group and she and Bethany really got to know each other on the trip. It is a bond that has carried over here at home. I can't help but smile when I look at this photo and see the "family resemblance".

Family Friday

There is no doubt these two little girls are related, in fact, if I didn't already know better, I might think it was the same child in each picture. One of these small girls came from a family of wealth, the other from a home where money wasn't near as easy to come by. You can tell by the clothes they wear and the not so fancy photo background.

The little girl in the first photo is my grandmother, an only child and the daughter of a man who worked for an oil company. The second is her own daughter, my Aunt Jeanne. Jeannie doesn't have the fancy clothes or pretty necklace that her own mother had at such a tender age, but I think if one had dressed her up in her mother's clothes, no one would have known the difference. Their faces are almost identical.

Family Friday

With all the meme's floating around I thought I'd throw out this possibility.

I find family resemblances interesting. Whether it is an uncanny interest in the same hobbies or a nearly identical facial expression. Sometimes family members look very much alike and sometimes one would never know there was a relation at all.

Both Nathan and my cousin's son, Harim, have an interest in playing the guitar. They are less than a year apart in age and look somewhat similar; tall, blond, similar builds and facial features. Funny thing is they are seldom together, meeting up mostly at family gatherings, usually a July 4th picnic in Penn Yan.