A Family Resemblance

I am sure most of us have stories of being told you look like Uncle So and So, oh, you have Auntie What's Her Bucket's nose... It is a natural human instinct to try and find where we belong. In a culture that values community over all else, this becomes incredibly important. Knowing who is family and who is not, was life and death not so very long ago. I was astonished a few years ago. I had been attending a large gathering for people who work with the Native American communities and chatting with someone. When she found out what my tribal affliation was, she looked long and hard at me and said, "You look like a..." and blurted out the name of my maternal grandfather, I was impressed, but not too much, because anytime I go home, I get pegged for looking just like my family all the time. (Oh you must be a..., you look just like them) But then the young woman continued to gaze at me and said, but you also look like a.... Then I was really impressed because she had pinpointed my maternal grandmother's line. Wow. I realized the ability to distingush families and resemblances is most likely a culturally taught concept.

Dang! Ain't I cute? And I can see why some people have wondered if I had some sort of Asian blood.
I was really surprised when our Little Man arrived and I thought he looked very much like me and my family.


I suppose I shouldn't have been too surprised, his tribe is one of the ones that neighbors my tribe, I am sure we share more than just a few alleles.
No one ever asks me if my boy is adopted, besides being a bit browner than the other kids, he fits right in, looks wise.*



My Little Pea has entered an age where she reminds me greatly of her mommy. I find my self shifting back and forth in time as I play with her, feeling as if I am back 22 years and then shifting back to the present. Tell me what you think....





And now. On to the minor crisis of the moment. Poor Girlfriend, she mourning the fact June Bug looks just like her daddy!



Girlfriend is blonde and was a tow headed youngster, all of her siblings are blonde. So to look at this sweet baby and see dark where she had supposed she would see light has been a shock.



She was warned though. Bald Man told her that I have domineering genes and to give up hope the child would look like her. June Bug got Girlfriend's pouty lips, but the rest is all us.

*Not that I care, really. But adoption has so many issues revolving around loss, and one of the things adoptees mourn is loss of family resemblance.